John Strauss

How Does Mother's Education Affect Child Height?

Many studies have demonstrated that parental education has a significant positive impact on child health. This paper attempts to identify the mechanisms through which maternal education affects one indicator of child health-height conditional on age and sex. Using data from the 1986 Brazilian Demographic and Health Survey, it is shown that almost all the impact of maternal education can be explained by indicators of access to information-reading papers, watching television, and listening to the radio. In urban areas, whether the mother is semi-literate accounts for some of the education effect. There are also significant interactions between maternal education and the availability of community services indicating that education and health services are substitutes but education and the availability of sewerage services are complements. Very little of the maternal education effect is transmitted through income.

Does Better Nutrition Raise Farm Productivity

Household-level data from Sierra Leone are used to test whether higher caloric intake enhances family farm labor productivity. This is the notion behind the efficiency wages hypothesis, which has found only weak empirical support. A farm production function is estimated, accounting for the simultaneity in input and calorie choice. Instruments include prices, household demographic characteristics, and farm assets. The latter two sets of instruments are later dropped to explore the robustness of the results to different specifications of exogeneity. The exercise shows a highly significant effect of caloric intake on labor productivity, providing solid support for the nutrition-productivity hypothesis. The marginal effect on productivity falls drastically as calorie consumption rises but remains positive at moderately high levels of intake. One result is a fall in the effective price of food, a decline that is larger for households that consumer fewer calories.

Health and wages: Evidence on men and women in urban Brazil☆

This study examines the impact of 4 health measures on wages of urban workers in Brazil. Data are obtained from the 1974-75 Estudo Nacional da Despesa Familiar among a sample population over 14 years old for wages earned by respondents 15-50 years old. The 4 health measures include height, body mass index (weight divided by height squared), per capita calorie intake, and per capita protein intake. Findings indicate that health measures significantly affected wages, even after accounting for endogeneity. Taller men and women earned more, even after controlling for education and other health measures. Body mass index affected only mens wages. The effect of height was larger for men. Body mass index had a larger impact on wages among persons with low levels of education. Nutrient intake affected wages of men and women in the market sector. More protein had the greatest return at high levels of intake, depending upon calorie intake, mass, and height. Height was a strong predictor of wages for self-employed men only. Body mass index affected the wages of only self-employed men with little or no education. Neither protein or caloric intake significantly affected wages of the self-employed. Models controlled for selection into the labor market and the choice between market and self-employment sectors in the estimated hazard rates based on multinomial logits, according to Heckman (1974) and Lee (1983). It is assumed that relative food prices and nonlabor income had no direct effect on wages. Findings suggest that health produces a substantial return in the formal sector of Brazilian labor markets.

Quality of health care, survival and health outcomes in Ghana

This paper analyzes the effect of quality and accessibility of health services and other public infrastructure on the health of children in Ghana. We focus on child survival, child height and weight using data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey. The results suggest an important role for public health policy in eliminating the rural-urban disparities in health status and particularly in improving the health status of rural children and reducing their mortality rates. Increased availability of birth services and other related child programs, as well as Improved water and sanitation infrastructure would have an immediate payoff.

Cohort Profile: The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)

The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) is a nationally representative longitudinal survey of persons in China 45 years of age or older and their spouses, including assessments of social, economic, and health circumstances of community-residents. CHARLS examines health and economic adjustments to rapid ageing of the population in China. The national baseline survey for the study was conducted between June 2011 and March 2012 and involved 17 708 respondents. CHARLS respondents are followed every 2 years, using a face-to-face computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI). Physical measurements are made at every 2-year follow-up, and blood sample collection is done once in every two follow-up periods. A pilot survey for CHARLS was conducted in two provinces of China in 2008, on 2685 individuals, who were resurveyed in 2012. To ensure the adoption of best practices and international comparability of results, CHARLS was harmonized with leading international research studies in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) model. Requests for collaborations should be directed to Dr Yaohui Zhao (yhzhao@nsd.edu.cn). All data in CHARLS are maintained at the National School of Development of Peking University and will be accessible to researchers around the world at the study website. The 2008 pilot data for CHARLS are available at: http://charls.ccer.edu.cn/charls/. National baseline data for the study are expected to be released in January 2013.

Gender and life cycle differentials in the patterns and determinants of adult health

This study investigates the socioeconomic determinants of adult illhealth in developing countries. We use as measures of health, selfreported general health plus a variety of measures of problems in physical functioning. We begin by comparing measures of adult ill-health in four countries: Bangladesh, Jamaica, Malaysia, and the United States, finding that women report more problems and at earlier ages than do men; this despite the greater longevity of women. We examine the sensi

Targeting of food aid in rural Ethiopia: chronic need or inertia?

Abstract This paper quantifies the factors underlying the allocations of food aid by the Ethiopian government, together with local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), both across rural regions and to households within regions. We focus on “reduced form” specifications in which as little structure as possible is put on the decision rules, because so little is known about these rules and their implementation. Nationally representative, rural household data from Ethiopia, collected in 1996, are used. The paper determines the extent to which food aid (both free distribution and food-for-work) is targeted to poor households and communities. We also demonstrate that food aid allocations display a large degree of spatial continuity over time, and are concentrated in areas that, at least during the time of the survey, are not the poorest. The paper attempts to disentangle two competing explanations for the apparent spatial rigidity of food aid allocations: that the recipient areas are chronically needy, or that needs shift geographically from 1 year to the next, but that fixed costs in setting up operations and in the process of identifying needs lead to a degree of inertia in the location of food aid programs over time. We conclude that the evidence best fits the inertia explanation.

Chapter 34 Human resources: Empirical modeling of household and family decisions

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews recent advances in the empirical literature on the role that households and families play in investing in human resources. It describes the estimation of reduced form demands for human capital, particularly education and health. Special attention is paid to the measurement and interpretation of the impact of household resources, particularly parental education, income, and impact of community resources, namely—prices and infrastructure. The process underlying the production of human capital is discussed. The chapter also discusses the difficulties in measuring inputs and input quality, and associated issues of estimation and interpretation. The chapter focuses on evidence regarding the influence of family background, school quality, ability, and self-selection. Models of household behavior in a dynamic setting are reviewed. The chapter discusses extensions to the model that is concerned with the flow and allocation of resources across and within households as well as to extensions that treat household boundaries as fluid.

Joint determination of food consumption and production in rural Sierra Leone: Estimates of a household-firm model☆

Abstract This paper investigates the determination of food consumption for rural households in Sierra Leone that produce the foods which they consume. A household—firm model is estimated with seven commodities: including five foods, non-foods and labor, as compared to three commodities in past studies. Such food disaggregation permits tracing of the effects of socioeconomic variables on household nutrient availability. Household specialization in production is such that censored data is a problem. A Tobit approach is used to correct for this. For most crops the own price effects on consumption remain negative when a price change is allowed to shift the budget constraint by effecting the profits from home production. Elasticities of calorie availability with respect to toal expenditure are found to be sizeable, varying little by expenditure group. The price elasticities of calorie availability are generally positive, however an important exception occurs for price of the staple food, rice. This exception has several important policy implications which are explored.

Giving to the Poor? Targeting of Food Aid in Rural Ethiopia

Abstract This study determines the factors underlying the allocations of food aid in Ethiopia. We focus on regional differences in targeting criteria, and targeting accuracy according to per capita income. Data are drawn from two linked rural household surveys in 1995–96. We find large differences in food aid allocations across regions that cannot be explained by observable regional characteristics such as per capita income and rainfall. These differences are consistent with speculation that food aid is being used by the Ethiopian government to transfer resources to favored regions. We also find wide variations in the criteria used to identify recipient households across regions. We identify measurable indicators that could be used by food aid authorities to improve targeting effectiveness in the future, both across and within regions. Finally, we present simulation results on targeting accuracy under various targeting strategies and discuss potential benefits and shortcomings of those strategies.