ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory
Kin-based Institutions and Economic Development
Friday, April 8, 2022 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT
Online Location, Zoom Meeting
The ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory of the Spring 2022 semester will feature:
George Mason University
Kin-based Institutions and Economic Development
Please contact ICES Office Manager (sbahabib@gmu.edu) for Zoom link.
Abstract
What explains global differences in economic prosperity? While many theories have been advanced, to date little attention has been paid to the oldest and most fundamental of human institutions: kin-based institutions—the set of social norms governing lineage, marriage, residence, and family obligations. We establish a tight empirical link between the tightness and breadth of kin-based institutions—their kinship intensity—and economic development. Combining data on satellite luminosity, regional GDP, marriage practices and kin-based institutions, biogeographic variables, and genotypic data (from which we estimate inbreeding levels), we find that lower kinship intensity tends to be associated with higher levels of economic development. Our results are robust to controlling for a suite of geographic and cultural variables and hold across countries, within country at both the regional and population (ethnicity) levels, and within country in spatial regression discontinuity analysis.
For more information about the Seminar Series, please visit the Seminar Schedule homepage.
