Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Family Networks, Inheritance and Orphans in Tanzania

关于先天与后天作用的争论仍然没有解决，部分原因是缺乏适当的数据来测试每个因素的相对重要性。这篇博士论文将分析坦桑尼亚卡盖拉地区孤儿的影响。13%至20%的儿童至少失去了父母一方。由于对孤儿的影响可能取决于照顾孤儿的家庭的动机，照顾孤儿的决定将被正式建模，以纳入照顾孤儿的成本和收益。这项研究将利用1994年以来有关个人家庭的资产信息，分析卡盖拉地区的继承模式。继承权将由若干因素来解释，其中包括各部落之间不同的习惯继承法，同时也说明了最近有关妇女和女童继承权的立法变化。然后，继承权将与家庭成员收养孤儿的决定挂钩，并最终与孤儿的福利影响挂钩。这项研究将收集和分析坦桑尼亚卡盖拉地区孤儿福利的数据。该项目的数据收集工作以现有的一个小组数据集为基础，即世界银行卡盖拉健康与发展调查，涵盖1991-1994年和2004年。在样本中发现的大约150名孤儿将被选中。他们、他们的寄养家庭和他们的家庭网络中没有照顾他们的其他成员将接受一项调查。与KHDS数据的联系将使我们能够考虑到死亡的父母可能与活着的父母有非常不同的特征。对孤儿在网络内的分配情况进行分析，将有助于深入了解家庭网络内的风险分担、家庭规模如何在应对冲击时发生变化以及网络是否负担过重。福利分析将有助于确定最脆弱的孤儿，从而为政策辩论提供信息。这项研究还将通过比较孤儿与非孤儿的福利，部分地为先天/后天辩论提供信息。 对继承模式的分析将为政策辩论提供信息，即最近的立法变化是否对继承模式和孤儿结局产生了明显影响。

The debate over the role of nature versus nurture continues to be unresolved partly because of lack of appropriate data to test the relative importance of each factor. This doctoral dissertation will analyze the effects of orphanhood on orphaned children in the Kagera region of Tanzania. Between 13 and 20% of all children have lost at least one parent. Since the effects on the orphans may depend on the motives of the caretaking families, the decision to take care of an orphan will be formally modeled to incorporate the costs and benefits of taking in an orphan. Using asset information on the individuals' households from 1994, the research will analyze patterns of inheritance within the Kagera region. Inheritances will be explained by a number of factors including differing customary inheritance laws across tribes while also accounting for recent legislative changes concerning, in particular, women's and female children's inheritance rights. Inheritance rights will then be linked to the decision of household members to take in orphans and ultimately to the welfare effects on orphans. The research will collect and analyze data on the welfare of orphaned children in the Kagera region of Tanzania. The data collection for this project builds on an existing panel dataset, the World Bank Kagera Health and Development Survey (KHDS), covering the years 1991-1994 and 2004. Around 150 orphans found in the sample will be selected. They, their foster families and other members of their family network who did not take care of them will be administered a survey instrument. The link with the KHDS data will allow us to take into account that parents who die may have very different characteristics than those who are alive. The analysis of the allocation of orphans within networks will provide insights on risk sharing within family networks, how household size changes in response to shocks and whether networks are becoming overburdened. The welfare analysis will help identifying the most vulnerable orphans and thus inform the policy debate. The research will also partly inform on the nature/nurture debate by comparing the wellbeing of orphaned children with those of non-orphans. The analysis of patterns of inheritance will inform the policy debate whether recent legislative changes had observable effects on inheritance patterns and orphan outcomes.