Wealth, risk and activity choice: cattle in Western Tanzania

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dercon, S
• 署名单位: University of Oxford; University of Oxford; KU Leuven
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3878(97)00054-0
• 发表日期: 1998
• 页码: 1-42
• 关键词: risk; borrowing constraints; income diversification; accumulation

摘要

Imperfect credit markets force households to use their savings for investment. Profitable activities often require lumpy investments, limiting entry by poorer households, resulting in increasing welfare differences. In Tanzania, cattle are a profitable but lumpy investment and a liquid asset for consumption smoothing. Richer households own substantial cattle herds, while poorer households specialize in low return, low risk activities. A dynamic programming model and simulations are presented to analyze entry into asset accumulation under income risk. The evidence suggests that households with lower endowments are less likely to own cattle and returns to their endowments are lower. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.