Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend
In many developing countries, gift expenses account for a substantial share of total household expenditures. As incomes rise, gift expenses are escalating in several developing countries. We develop a theoretical model to demonstrate how (unequal) income growth may trigger “gift competition” and dri...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
International Food Policy Research Institute
2017
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147671 |
| _version_ | 1855540086057205760 |
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| author | Bulte, Erwin Wang, Ruixin Zhang, Xiaobo |
| author_browse | Bulte, Erwin Wang, Ruixin Zhang, Xiaobo |
| author_facet | Bulte, Erwin Wang, Ruixin Zhang, Xiaobo |
| author_sort | Bulte, Erwin |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | In many developing countries, gift expenses account for a substantial share of total household expenditures. As incomes rise, gift expenses are escalating in several developing countries. We develop a theoretical model to demonstrate how (unequal) income growth may trigger “gift competition” and drive up the financial burden associated with gift exchange. We use unique census-type panel data from rural China to test our model predictions and demonstrate that (1) the value of gifts responds to the average gift in the community, (2) the escalation of gift giving may have adverse welfare implications (especially for the poor), and (3) escalating gift expenses crowd out expenditures on other consumption items. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace147671 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1476712025-11-06T07:22:40Z Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend Bulte, Erwin Wang, Ruixin Zhang, Xiaobo income rural communities household expenditure welfare developing countries equality In many developing countries, gift expenses account for a substantial share of total household expenditures. As incomes rise, gift expenses are escalating in several developing countries. We develop a theoretical model to demonstrate how (unequal) income growth may trigger “gift competition” and drive up the financial burden associated with gift exchange. We use unique census-type panel data from rural China to test our model predictions and demonstrate that (1) the value of gifts responds to the average gift in the community, (2) the escalation of gift giving may have adverse welfare implications (especially for the poor), and (3) escalating gift expenses crowd out expenditures on other consumption items. 2017 2024-06-21T09:23:09Z 2024-06-21T09:23:09Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147671 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154002 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Bulte, Erwin; Wang, Ruixin; and Zhang, Xiaobo. 2017. Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1615. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147671 |
| spellingShingle | income rural communities household expenditure welfare developing countries equality Bulte, Erwin Wang, Ruixin Zhang, Xiaobo Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend |
| title | Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend |
| title_full | Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend |
| title_fullStr | Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend |
| title_full_unstemmed | Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend |
| title_short | Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend |
| title_sort | forced gifts the burden of being a friend |
| topic | income rural communities household expenditure welfare developing countries equality |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147671 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bulteerwin forcedgiftstheburdenofbeingafriend AT wangruixin forcedgiftstheburdenofbeingafriend AT zhangxiaobo forcedgiftstheburdenofbeingafriend |