Long panel studies of small-scale rural societies in the Global South: What is their value, why are they rare, and suggestions to make them happen

Many topics in the behavioral sciences and epidemiology require researchers to directly observe entities (e.g., individuals, households) over a long time to identify lasting effects. Long-term panel data collection is more common in high-income countries than in small-scale rural societies (SSRS) of low-income countries. SSRS are mobile, nature-dependent, linguistic minorities, and highly autarkic. Analyzing such data using a life-course perspective can help uncover patterns that align or upend what we know from high-income countries. This study a) reviews long (>∼10 year) panels in SSRS (n = 9), b) extends the analysis to cover somewhat comparable societies of smallholders (n = 7) who are less autarkic, and c) draws on annual panel data (2002–2010) from one SSRS in the Bolivian Amazon (Tsimane’) to illustrate how adult life-course patterns may vary but also resemble patterns in high-income countries. In general, panels have focused more on human biology than on socioeconomic outcomes, have gathered data at irregular intervals, and have not deposited datasets in public repositories. Compared with people in high-income countries, Tsimane’ were similar in the amount of intragenerational immobility at the very top and the very bottom of the income and wealth distribution. In both places, body weight rose while sociality frayed over time. Yet Tsimane’ differed in having more economic mobility outside the top and bottom income and wealth distribution, a slightly higher growth rate in economic inequality, and no correlation between economic mobility and age. We identify institutional and individual hurdles to collecting panel data in SSRS and discuss steps to overcome them.