Risk Management , Insurance and Social Networks in Ghana

Financial support for this research was provided by the United States Agency for International Development’s Strategies and Analyses for Growth and Access (SAGA) Project, the Social Science Research Council’s Program in Applied Economics on Risk and Development (through a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation), the Yale Economic Growth Center and the Pew Charitable Trusts. We would like to thank the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana, particularly Ernest Aryeetey, Ernest Appiah and Kudjoe Dovlo for providing an enabling research environment as well as invaluable support. We are also grateful to Christopher Udry, David Sahn, Ravi Kanbur, Donald Kenkel and participants at the SSRC Conference on Risk and Development (Santa Cruz, CA) for insightful comments. We are greatly indebted to Robert Ernest Afedoe, Raphael Arku, Setor Lotsu, Nana Owusu Kontoh and Sroda Lotsu for assistance with data collection. The views expressed here and remaining errors are the author’s and do not reflect any official agency.