The Local Variability of Rainfall and Tribal Institutions: The Case of Sudan

Abstract

"The purpose of this paper is to develop a hypothesis relating the local variability of rainfall to the type of property rights institutions and the strength and character of tribal institutions in the Sudan. Specifically, a hypothesis is derived suggesting that an increase in the local variability of rainfall could be expected to increase the relative usefulness and hence incidence of common property relative to private property relationships. It should also lead to greater strength of tribal institutions. Historical data on monthly rainfall from a cross-section of 150 weather stations in Sudan for the years 1930-1990 is used to compute indexes of both seasonality and local variability of rainfall for different regions of the country. These indexes are then used to test their usefulness in explaining variations in property rights and tribal institutions across regions of the Sudan."