The test for the presence of full insurance employed by Townsend [Econometrica, 63(3), 539--91, 1994] and various others does not take into account that households rely on buffer stocks to shield their consumption from income shocks. In this paper it is shown how, in the presence of partial...

In this paper we ask why Zimbabwean households pay bride wealth in instalments rather than a lump sum on the date of marriage. We also pose the question why the type of cattle that has to be paid is not exactly specified. Starting from the observation that in rural Zimbabwe risk markets are...