Eric R. Jensen

Post-neonatal mortality in Rural India: Implications of an economic model

In this paper we develop and test a theory of childhood mortality after the first month of life. Parents are assumed to have well-defined family size and sex composition objectives and to face severe budget constraints. In this set of circumstances, it is understandable that they will make allocative decisions that will affect the survival probabilities of children. These decisions and the environmental influences on mortality are the basic forces which determine whether a child will survive through the post-neonatal period. The model is tested with survey data from rural Uttar Pradesh, India. The results are consistent with the hypothetical framework discussed above. The burden of this pattern of choice is felt particularly strongly by female births.

Why does migration decrease fertility? Evidence from the Philippines.

We model the impact of past migration on fertility, assessing the separate effects of relative urbanization of the destination, as a proxy for norms, and post-migration employment, as a proxy for opportunity costs. In the Philippines, we find that large fertility declines accompany post-migration employment. If not followed by work for pay, the estimated fertility impact of migration is small. We find little evidence of migrant selectivity in fertility, and offer speculative evidence that fertility disruption accompanying migration may be large enough to account for much of the apparent effect of normative adaptation.

The fertility impact of alternative family planning distribution channels in Indonesia

Clinic-based distribution of contraceptive commodities is expensive per unit distributed. This situation has fueled the search for alternative means of delivery. Comparing the performance of alternatives is straightforward if the output measure is a count of commodities distributed, but comparing actual fertility impacts is another matter. I use data from the 1991 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey to assess the extent of difference among the eventual fertility outcomes of users supplied with similar commodities through varying sources. When the “modern” methods of pill, IUD, and injection are grouped together, the fertility of users supplied with these commodities differs markedly according to their source of supply. I find little evidence for self-selecting of users into supply channels. This result implies that fertility differentials by source are likely due to characteristics of the distribution channels.

DESIRED FERTILITY, THE "UP TO GOD" RESPONSE, AND SAMPLE SELECTION BIAS

An unresolved question in the analysis of survey data relating to fertility attitudes and beliefs is how non-numeric responses to questions on ideal family size should be treated. This paper demonstrates that simply dropping “up to God” responses will bias regression results. An unbiased estimator is presented which explicitly models the way in which observations are selected into the sample. The estimator is then employed on Guatemalan and Indian data. No support for the notion that women who answer “up to God” are women who would have given relatively large numeric answers is found in these two samples.

FAMILY SIZE, UNWANTEDNESS, AND CHILD HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE UTILISATION IN INDONESIA

This paper presents and estimates a model of the determinants of child health and health care utilisation in Indonesia. In particular, it estimates the impact of unwantedness and number of siblings on health outcomes and treatment. It finds evidence that children who are unwanted at birth are more likely than other children to become ill and less likely to receive treatment for illnesses. No evidence is found that children from larger families suffer adverse health consequences.

Health facility characteristics and the decision to seek care

Utilisation of healthcare facilities is low in many developing areas. One possible explanation is that treatment costs, in time or money, are high. Another is that parents perceive treatment benefits to be low. We combine Philippines DHS data with a subsequent facilities survey in order to examine these issues with respect to treatment for respiratory infections and diarrhoea in young children. Controlling statistically for the selectivity of the initiating illness, we find that the staffing level of nearby health facilities is a determinant of the probability that parents take their ill children for curative care.

A comment on glenn Firebaugh’s “population density and fertility”

ConclusionFirebaugh has attempted to test an interesting, if counterintuitive, theory. I have argued that his empirical model is incompletely specified, and that one should reserve judgement on his hypothesis until a better means of testing it can be developed. In particular, the use of ratio variables and pooled data create substantial statistical problems.f The simultaneous responses of the CBR and village population size to outside-of-model variation yield an inflated estimate of the effect of population density on fertility.