Tag Archives: Social Networks

Are remittances shared after an aggregate shock? The impact of mobile money services on risk sharing.

Mobile money services offer a new way to quickly and easily send money long distances. After starting in Kenya in 2007, they’ve grown dramatically over the last decade, with mobile money services now available in 93 countries with over 400mn … Continue reading

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Intra-household Resource Allocation and Familial Ties

Households in traditional societies often deviate from the form of the nuclear family household that dominate in developed economies. Grandparents and grandchildren, married siblings, other extended family members, or even unrelated individuals may cohabit, produce and consume together. In sub-Saharan … Continue reading

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Community-Based Development initiatives: Who in the village hears about them and who doesn’t? And how?

Community-based development programmes, known for placing greater control of resources and decision-making in local hands, have long been an important part of development policy. But these programmes are also behest with their own challenges and limitations. One of these is … Continue reading

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The Future in Mind: Aspirations and Forward-Looking Behaviour in Rural Ethiopia

A person’s aspirations, or goals and targets for their future, can be a driving force in their life, providing motivation and guiding their choices. In forming aspirations, all people dismiss some options for their future lives, and fail to even … Continue reading

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Mobile technologies in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest levels of infrastructure quality in the world. However, 80% of adults in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal have a mobile phone, despite the fact that a large proportion of them live in poverty with no … Continue reading

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The reverse couch potato effect: the impact of inspirational movies on aspirations and expectations

Documentary screening, iiG Programme (DFID funded) (Owner: Kate Orkin) – Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).Link to Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/   Do people believe that they are in control of their future outcomes? And how do expectations of what can … Continue reading

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Formal savings access and informal financial transactions

Social networks and the analysis of peer effects are a current hot topic across academic disciplines. The idea that a structure beyond our own direct scope and understanding, i.e. the social network we are embedded in, significantly influences how our … Continue reading

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Property rights in diverse places: lessons from Dar es Salaam

  Last year, while wandering around a slum in Dar es Salaam with a colleague,  I happened upon a local landowner who was visibly displeased with how his plot had been demarcated in a recent large-scale land survey. A few … Continue reading

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Networks, gender and job referrals in Malawi

A CSAE enumerator at work in Ghana in 2008. But how did she find the job? And what would she say if we asked her to refer someone to fill a similar position? Referrals matter  “Another issue concerns your letters … Continue reading

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