Risk-Pooling and Herd Survival: An Agent-Based Model of a Maasai Gift-Giving System |
| |
Authors: | C Athena Aktipis Lee Cronk Rolando de Aguiar |
| |
Institution: | (1) University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA;(2) Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA;(3) Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA |
| |
Abstract: | We use agent-based modeling to study osotua, a gift giving system used by the Maasai of East Africa. Osotua’s literal meaning is “umbilical cord,” but it is used metaphorically
to refer to a specific type of gift-giving relationship. Osotua relationships are characterized by respect, responsibility
and restraint. Osotua partners ask each other for help only if they are in need and provide help only when asked and only
if they are able. We hypothesize that under the ecologically volatile conditions in which Maasai pastoralists have traditionally
lived, such a system is particularly suited to risk pooling. Here we explore whether osotua increases the viability of herds
by comparing herd survivorship and stability under osotua rules to a) no exchange and b) probabilistic rules for requesting
and giving livestock. Results from this model suggest that this gift-giving system can dramatically increase herd longevity
through a limited pooling of risk. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|