Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead
7 hours ago
- #economic-development
- #funeral-culture
- #kinship-societies
- Funerals in African societies like Ghana are highly elaborate and expensive, often costing thousands of dollars, which is disproportionate to median incomes, leading to financial strain.
- Kinship societies in sub-Saharan Africa enforce strong sharing obligations, where wealth is redistributed within extended families, hindering individual savings and capital accumulation.
- Expensive funerals act as wealth destruction rituals, serving as costly signals of loyalty to kinship groups and preventing economic growth by draining resources.
- Technologies like mobile banking offer privacy and help individuals evade sharing obligations, potentially fostering economic development by allowing income accumulation.