Poverty and Public Celebrations in Rural India

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Abstract
Poverty and Public Celebrations in Rural India Vijayendra Rao This paper examines the paradox that very poor households spend large sums of money on celebrations. Using qualitative and quantitative data from South India, it demonstrates that expenditures on weddings and festivals can be explained by integrating an understandingof how identity is shaped in the Indian context, with an economic analysis of decision making under conditions of extreme poverty and risk. It argues that publicly observable celebrations have two functions -- they provide a space for maintaining social reputations and webs of obligation, and serve as arenas for status-enhancingcompetitions. The first role is central in maintaining the networks essential for social relationships and coping against poverty, while the second is a correlate of mobility that may become,more prevalent as incomes rise. Development,policies that privilege individual over collective action reduce the incentives for the former while increasing them for the latter, thus reducing social cohesion while increasing conspicuous consumption. 2 Paradoxically, families who earn barely enough to survive spend vast amounts of money

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