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Keeping It in the Family: Lineage Organization and the Scope of Trust in Sub-Saharan Africa

Jacob Moscona¹; Nathan Nunn²; James A. Robinson³

¹ Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, E52-380, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142 (e-mail: ) · ² Department of Economics, Harvard University, 1805 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (e-mail: ) · ³ Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, 1155 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 (e-mail: )

We present evidence that the traditional structure of society is an important determinant of the scope of trust today. Within Africa, individuals belonging to ethnic groups that organized society using segmentary lineages exhibit a more limited scope of trust, measured by the gap between trust in relatives and trust in non-relatives. This trust gap arises because of lower levels of trust in non-relatives and not higher levels of trust in relatives. A causal interpretation of these correlations is supported by the fact that the effects are primarily found in rural areas where these forms of organization are still prevalent.

DOI

10.1257/aer.p20171088

Volume

107 (5)

Pages

565-571

Language

en

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