The three studies I examined in relation to the above issue all suggest that children are in fact the primary and almost sole providers of old age security in Africa. While this issue may not present an immediate problem in this area of the world, large younger cohorts combined with falling fertility rates will become a problem in the years to come. This is particularly important because currently there are few alternate sources of reliable support for the elderly. The lack of alternative support systems in Africa sets the scene for the important role children play in old age security, as well as bringing with it important implications for the future when considered alongside demographic transition. I will address the issue of how children are used as old age security by discussing the notion of diversification of the family economy, which is achieved through high fertility. The most interesting aspect of this topic is then the mechanism by which parents “manipulate” their children to provide old age support, through the use of economic incentives. Most importantly, these studies are showing that fertility decisions in Africa are not irrational. While there is still a strong social/cultural underpinning, fertility and old age support is an essentially economic decision.
According to Khasiani, there are a variety of places from which the can elderly receive support including: care from themselves, the rest of the family, siblings, community, the government and NGOs (Khasiani 1994: 63-64). For the last three, it was found that assistance is sporadic and unreliable. These sources of support are characterized by lack of organization, bureaucratic constraints and a general unwillingness to give. The expectation in Africa is that the children must provide support and act as old age insurance. As Africa enters the modern era, however, there will be important societal changes that will create new social groups that may not be covered under this “traditional” system of old age support. The three categories are: single women and men, widows, and childless women (Khasiani 1994: 64). Remaining single will limits one’s access to land-use, especially in the case of single women. Likewise, with increased life expectancy particularly in women, a larger number of widows will rely on children for support. In the case of women with only daughters, there will be little support available as the daughters are married into another family. Similarly, a childless widow must rely more on the community, a support system that is far less reliable.
So if Caldwell is correct in calling for a reversal in the flow of wealth from child to parent as a necessary condition for lower fertility, there are serious consequences. As the support system stands now, a change in this wealth flow has dire implications for the impoverishment of the elderly in Africa. Moreover, as these new social categories grow larger along with the demographic transition, a large segment of the population faces marginalization and a bleak future. That is why this issue of support is of vital importance in Africa now, before the transition truly takes hold.
There are several theories pertaining to the role children play in old age security as described by Clay and Vander Haar. Children improve social mobility within a community. The extended family in this theory is seen as a corporation that competes with other firms or families, and hence size yields political power and upward social mobility. This is especially true in villages where the community divides the land according to familial need; more children mean more land and increased decision-making power. By this token, children bring in more income and can “diversify” the family economy (Clay and Vander Haar 1993: 70). Rural families will often receive cash from children working in the city, and this diversification through high fertility acts as insurance against rough times. Sons and more educated children are more likely to give money whereas daughters and married children tend to provide support in terms of labor and gifts in kind (Clay and Vander Haar 1993: 76, 79). A large family, with a greater access in terms of diverse income sources, can act as insurance against tough times.
Similarly, those children who remain in the village offer support in different ways, mostly in terms of labor and goods. This can also be extended beyond lineal networks of kinship to where lateral networks are also important, although it was found in Rwanda that lineal were favored over lateral (Clay and Vander Haar 1993: 71, 75). Perhaps the most significant finding in a study performed in Rwanda is that there is no decrease in the amount of support given to parents per child as the number of children increases, or even that high levels of assistance comes with larger numbers of children (Clay and Vander Haar 1993: 80; Hoddinott 1992: 545). In a sense, then, an African family economy is an economy of scale that brings increased returns as it grows larger.
Children in Africa can also be a function of risk against “downward mobility” (Clay and Vander Haar 1993: 71). It is not difficult to see Africa as a high-risk situation in terms of infant and child death rates, reliance on agriculture and so forth. Either way, high fertility is economically rational. This diversification also has serious implications in terms of future trends. These familial networks, while strong today, may weaken over time as permanent residence is established in the urban areas (Clay and Vander Haar 1993: 71). It was also seen that distance from the parental household is inversely related to the amount of support given, (Clay and Vander Haar: 1993, 77). Again, this is a serious challenge in terms of old age support, as urbanization continues. It leaves open the increased possibility of rural marginalization, and so high fertility becomes an economic calculation made by parents in order to ensure support and security in their old age.
While the economic calculus is important, this does not explain how parents guarantee that their children provide support, as such support does not seem to make economic sense within this framework, from the child’s point of view. This is where the work of John Hoddinott enters, who describes a mechanism by which monetary and labor support for elderly parents is extracted from the children, which he calls the “manipulative parents theorem” (Hoddinott 1992: 548). This noncooperative bargaining framework involves the credibility of a threat to disinherit the children, in order to induce greater attention from them. That is not to say that children do not derive utility from attending to their parents, it is a way in which parents can increase the attention by increasing the amount of utility. Hence, the relationship between parents and children in Africa is not completely self-interested, but there is still evidence of economic manipulation in order to derive maximum utility and satisfaction.
The credibility and flexibility that parents have in terms of manipulation varies for a number of reasons. Naturally, the more children with whom to share the inheritable assets, the more credible the threat of disinheritance is. An only child, for example, is virtually guaranteed the entire inheritance, while one child among six, as seen in most African countries, will not have the same confidence. Likewise, as a household becomes older, it is more likely to be in need of support in the form of labor, which may require the passing on of part of the inheritance in order to induce this kind of attention. This analysis also showed that assistance comes not just from the direct descendents, but also the families of the sons in particular. Clearly, the whole family recognizes the long-run economic advantages of such donations, and seriously considers any threats of disinheritance. It was also shown that wealthier households do not receive larger remittances just because their children were likely to earn more money. It is due to the fact that the parents have more inheritance to make available to the child (more utility), and are therefore more flexible in their manipulation. The evidence of the actual inheritance patterns that show that the land tends to be unevenly divided among the children and thus support plays a role in influencing parental decisions concerning bequests (Hoddinott 1992: 562). In the end, it is not necessarily the amount of assets available for inheritance, but how they are used to induce attention from the children that is the key to old age support in this part of the world.
In Africa, children play an important role in terms of old age support, as they are viewed in an economically pragmatic manner. First of all, it is important to examine this issue as Africa has yet to experience its demographic transition. This transition from a young to an old population, coupled with other social changes associated with development, will shift the majority burden of dependency and support from young children to the elderly. As it stands, the current support system may erode with the drop in fertility, or will resist this drop in order to maintain such support. Secondly, high fertility and large families are a method by which Africans diversify their family economies, thus creating an insurance against impoverishment in the face of an uncertain situation. Lastly, this old-age support is secured not just through cultural/familial duty, but also through a system of economic bargaining in which economic incentives are traded in return for increased elderly support. In observing this support structure, one begins question Africa’s ability to transition to lower fertility, and the potential effects this might have in terms of the impoverishment of the elderly.
Daniel C. Clay and Jane E. Van der Haar, "Patterns of Intergenerational Support and Childbearing in the Third World", Population Studies, Vol. 47, No. 1, March 1993, pp. 67-84.
John Hoddinott, "Rotten Kids or Manipulative Parents: Are Children Old Age Security in Western Kenya?", Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol.40, No. 3, April 1992, pp. 545-566.
Shanyisa Khasiani, "The Changing Role of The Family in Meeting the Social and Economic Needs of the Aging Population in Developing Countries, With Particular Focus on Eastern Africa", in United Nations, Aging and the Family, United Nations, New York, 1994, pp. 61-65.