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Is Social Capital the Capital of the Poor? The Role of Family and Community in Helping Insure Living Standards against Health Shocks

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Listed:
  • Paul Gertler
  • David I. Levine
  • Enrico Moretti

Abstract

We estimate the effect of social capital on the ability of households to insure consumption after unexpected negative shocks. Many theoretical models argue that strong ties to extended family members and to one's community help protect families when an adult becomes ill or disabled. Using household-level longitudinal data on Indonesian families, we test whether consumption declines less after a negative health shock for those with many ties to their community and for those in a community with dense ties. We take advantage of a particularly rich set of measures of social capital including measures of civic participation; the existence of traditions of mutual cooperation; long-term relationships in the community and ethnic and linguistic diversity. We also examine the role of a large and prosperous extended family. We find little support for the hypothesis that social capital is the capital of the poor. (JEL classification: D12, D13, G21, G22, O16) Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Gertler & David I. Levine & Enrico Moretti, 2006. "Is Social Capital the Capital of the Poor? The Role of Family and Community in Helping Insure Living Standards against Health Shocks," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 52(3), pages 455-499, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cesifo:v:52:y:2006:i:3:p:455-499
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cesifo/ifl012
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    Cited by:

    1. Muhammad Javed SHEIKH & Ma'rof REDZUAN & Asnarulkhadi Abu SAMAH & Nobaya AHMAD, 2015. "Identifying sources of social capital among the farmers of the rural Sindh province of Pakistan," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 61(4), pages 189-195.
    2. Osei, Davina & Konte, Maty & Avenyo, Elvis Korku, 2024. "Escaping Corruption in the Demand for Public Services in Africa — The Dual Nature of Civic Networks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Haddis Solomon & Yoko Kijima, 2022. "Does Land Certification Mitigate the Negative Impact of Weather Shocks? Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Kristin Brandl & Elizabeth Moore & Camille Meyer & Jonathan Doh, 2022. "The impact of multinational enterprises on community informal institutions and rural poverty," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(6), pages 1133-1152, August.
    5. Sumit Mazumdar & Papiya Guha Mazumdar & Barun Kanjilal & Prashant Kumar Singh, 2014. "Multiple Shocks, Coping and Welfare Consequences: Natural Disasters and Health Shocks in the Indian Sundarbans," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(8), pages 1-13, August.
    6. Angelucci Manuela & De Giorgi Giacomo & Rangel Marcos & Rasul Imran, 2009. "Village Economies and the Structure of Extended Family Networks," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-46, October.
    7. Cheng, Xiaoyu & Wang, Jianying & Chen, Kevin Z., 2022. "Does villager social capital hinder poverty targeting? Evidence from poverty-stricken county of Western China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    8. Haseeb Ahmed & Benjamin W. Cowan, 2019. "Mobile Money and Healthcare Use: Evidence from East Africa," NBER Working Papers 25669, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Geng, Xin & Ide, Vera & Janssens, Wendy & Kramer, Berber & van der List, Marijn, 2017. "Health insurance, a friend in need? Evidence from financial and health diaries in Kenya," IFPRI discussion papers 1664, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Posso, Alberto, 2023. "Terrorism, banking, and informal savings: Evidence from Nigeria," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    11. Philipp Marek & Benjamin Damm & Tong-Yaa Su, 2015. "Beyond the Employment Agency: The Effect of Social Capital on the Duration of Unemployment," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 812, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Tesfamicheal Wossen & Salvatore Falco & Thomas Berger & William McClain, 2016. "You are not alone: social capital and risk exposure in rural Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(4), pages 799-813, August.
    13. Vanessa Sha Fan & Renuka Mahadevan, 2019. "The Role of Social Capital and Remote Chinese Villagers’ Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1109-1128, June.
    14. Ahmed, Haseeb & Cowan, Benjamin, 2021. "Mobile money and healthcare use: Evidence from East Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    15. Stacy Carlson & Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Mika Saito & Ms. Yu Shi, 2015. "Household Financial Access and Risk Sharing in Nigeria," IMF Working Papers 2015/169, International Monetary Fund.
    16. William Jack & Tavneet Suri, 2014. "Risk Sharing and Transactions Costs: Evidence from Kenya's Mobile Money Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(1), pages 183-223, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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