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Altruism and Risk Sharing in Networks

Author

Abstract
We provide the first analysis of the risk-sharing implications of altruism networks. Agents are embedded in a fixed network and care about each other. We study whether altruistic transfers help smooth consumption and how this depends on the shape of the network. We identify two benchmarks where altruism networks generate efficient insurance: for any shock when the network of perfect altruism is strongly connected and for any small shock when the network of transfers is weakly connected. We show that the extent of informal insurance depends on the average path length of the altruism network and that small shocks are partially insured by endogenous risk-sharing communities. We uncover complex structural effects. Under iid incomes, central agents tend to be better insured, the consumption correlation between two agents is positive and tends to decrease with network distance, and a new link can decrease or increase the consumption variance of indirect neighbors. Overall, we show that altruism in networks has a first-order impact on risk and generates specific patterns of consumption smoothing.

Suggested Citation

  • Renaud Bourlès & Yann Bramoullé & Eduardo Perez-Richet, 2018. "Altruism and Risk Sharing in Networks," AMSE Working Papers 1838, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    • Handle: RePEc:aim:wpaimx:1838
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Bayer, Péter, 2023. "Evolutionarily stable networks," TSE Working Papers 23-1487, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    2. Oded Stark, 2024. "Can altruism lead to a willingness to take risks?," The Journal of Mathematical Sociology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(2), pages 272-278, April.
    3. Michel Denuit & Jan Dhaene & Christian Y. Robert, 2022. "Risk‐sharing rules and their properties, with applications to peer‐to‐peer insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(3), pages 615-667, September.
    4. Victorien Barbet & Renaud Bourlès & Juliette Rouchier, 2020. "Informal risk-sharing cooperatives: the effect of learning and other-regarding preferences," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 451-478, April.
    5. Juan Daniel Hernandez & Fernando Jaramillo & Hubert Kempf & Fabien Moizeau & Thomas Vendryes, 2023. "Limited Commitment, Social Control and Risk-Sharing Coalitions in Village Economies," Documents de recherche 23-03, Centre d'Études des Politiques Économiques (EPEE), Université d'Evry Val d'Essonne.
    6. Ruiz Palazuelos, Sofía, 2021. "Network Perception in Network Games," MPRA Paper 115212, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Jun 0022.
    7. Yong Cai, 2022. "Linear Regression with Centrality Measures," Papers 2210.10024, arXiv.org.
    8. Stark, Oded & Budzinski, Wiktor & Jakubek, Marcin, 2022. "Risk aversion when preferences are altruistic," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).

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    Keywords

    altruism; networks; risk sharing; Informal Insurance;
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