Coping with Drought in Village Economies: The Role of Polygyny

Rural communities in developing countries often experience growing-season droughts – a spatially covariant income shock disrupting mutual insurance mechanisms. These communities might leverage traditional practices such as polygyny to enhance economic resilience. This is particularly effective when co-wives come from geographically dispersed kinship networks, facilitating the inflow of financial support during droughts. Analyzing data from rural Mali, we exploit the quasi-random nature of droughts and variations in polygyny rates across communities. We control for time and community fixed effects and several observable correlates of drought potentially affecting polygyny. Results show that polygyny is linked with increased financial aid from distant kin during droughts, mitigating negative effects on crop yields. Additionally, polygyny prevalence remains unaffected by negative rainfall deviations, suggesting its role as a pre-established cultural strategy for managing income shocks. Hence, public policy aiming to phase out practices like polygyny for community survival must consider these cultural dimensions of resilience strategies.