Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition Research Articles

Exploring life satisfaction difference between domestic and international medical graduates: Evidence from a national longitudinal study

ABSTRACT Background Studies of doctors’ life satisfaction (subjective well-being) have largely overlooked the specific experiences of international or overseas trained doctors. This study explores any difference in life satisfaction and its determinants between international and domestic medical graduates (i.e. IMGs vs. DMGs), in Australia (a major destination country). Methods We pooled eight waves of data from the Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) longitudinal survey of Australian doctors (2009–2016). Life satisfaction was measured on a standard 10-point scale. We applied Oaxaca and Ransom's linear decomposition method to evaluate factors associated with any observed difference in satisfaction between the two groups of doctors. Results IMGs were more likely to report lower life satisfaction than DMGs (mean 7.37 vs 7.48, p-value < 0.001). The well-being gap (of 0.11) was largely attributable to the groups’ differences in observable characteristics such as psychosocial and demographic factors. Most notably, the IMG group was worse off with respect to self-reported financial security, exposure to work-related psychosocial risk factors, and community integration. Conclusion Our study highlights the importance of the workplace and community context in understanding the life satisfaction difference between IMGs and DMGs. The study results may have important implications for policies and programs that seek to promote the integration and retention of IMGs.

The Easterlin paradox of entrepreneurs during China's economic transition

AbstractThis paper investigates the determinants and the time pattern of the subjective well‐being of private business owners. We find that both personal and enterprise‐level factors have a significant influence on subjective status of private business owners. Meanwhile, we find supportive evidence of Easterlin paradox among Chinese private entrepreneurs: both personal income and operating revenue enhance subjective status in a certain period, but subjective status declines as time goes by, even as incomes continue to rise. A further Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition suggests that the competition and provincial factors are the keys to explaining the paradox. Finally, we try to verify the positive effect of political connection on entrepreneurs' subjective status to provide some helpful advice for the government.

Good students, avid readers: The cost of academic success

AbstractThe effects of reading habits on academic performances have been carefully investigated, but little is known about the effects of academic achievements on students’ leisure reading. This paper investigates this issue by estimating the effects of academic achievements, proxied by the number of exams passed, on leisure reading, measured by the number of leisure books read in a year. Using an online survey submitted to the students at the University of Bologna, Italy, we adopt a two‐step control‐function technique to control for endogeneity. The empirical evidence suggests the existence of a negative relationship between students’ academic achievements and the time devoted to leisure reading. This result holds for students of different fields of study and is stronger for male students. The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition supports the existence of a gender‐specific idiosyncratic effect.

Examining energy poverty in Chinese households: An Engel curve approach

AbstractThis article is first to model energy poverty in Chinese households using an Engel curve approach. To analyse the determinants of energy poverty and energy expenditures across households, we avail the 2015 wave of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). Possible presence of endogeneity is accounted for in the model specification as well as by using the Lewbel heteroscedasticity identified endogenous variables estimator. In addition, we are the first to scrutinise disparity and discrimination by conducting the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition of energy poverty model by gender, ethnicity, region (Eastern vs. non‐Eastern provinces), and urbanisation status (rural vs. urban residents). Our analysis shows: (i) education is the key determinant of various energy poverty measures and energy expenditure shares across Chinese households; (ii) other determinants including fossil fuel mix and electricity price discrimination are found to worsen energy poverty, on average. However, fossil fuel mix is found to increase expenditure share of total energy, electricity, and coal and decrease that of biomass; and (iii) the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition analyses show no statistically significant gender or ethnic discrimination in energy poverty rates. However, there is substantial divide between Eastern and non‐Eastern provinces and between rural and urban households—with these groups also discriminated against when accessing clean cooking fuels and technologies. The Blinder–Oaxaca results also generally support the logistic and the Lewbel energy poverty model findings.

Empirical likelihood inference for Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition

This paper proposes an empirical likelihood inference method for the Oaxaca–Blinder decompositions. In contrast to the conventional Wald statistic using the delta method, our approach circumvents the linearization errors and estimation of the variance terms. Furthermore, the shape of the resulting empirical likelihood confidence set is determined flexibly by data. Simulation results illustrate usefulness of the proposed inference method. • Empirical likelihood inference is proposed for Oaxaca–Blinder decompositions. • Our approach circumvents linearization errors and variance estimation. • Numerical examples illustrate usefulness of our method.

The rising child penalty in China

The falling female labor force participation rate in China has raised the attention of labor economists and policymakers. In light of this, this paper documents the changes in labor force participation of mothers relative to fathers around first births (referred as the “child penalty”) in China from 1982 to 2015 using a pseudo event study approach. Our findings show that child penalty for Chinese women has not only been steadily increasing, but also persists over years. This pattern cannot be solely explained by the lifted birth quota since the implementation of the one-child Policy. We further show that the increasing child penalty coincides with the decreasing number of public kindergartens after the state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform. Using a standard Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition approach, we also find evidence of a high percentage of child-related gender inequality in labor force participation.

Exploration of Dietary Diversity Heterogeneity across Rural-Urban Areas in Pakistan: Based on HIES 2018-19

This study investigates the gap in dietary diversity and thereby quantifies this gap into its main drivers between rural and urban households. The statistical analysis based on data from the Household Integrated Expenditures Survey 2018-19 for Pakistan shows that there is a significant mean difference in household dietary diversity across rural-urban regions. To quantify the dietary diversity gap across regions, the multivariate nonlinear Oaxaca-Blinder mean decomposition method is used and we have decomposed Oaxaca-Blinder mean decomposition into the explained effect and the unexplained effect. The result of the nonlinear Oaxaca-Blinder mean decomposition method explains that the dietary diversity gap across regions is specifically due to households’ characteristics like household expenditures, household head educational attainment and age etc. The mean difference ranges from 89.66% to 75.32% for dietary diversity scores and food variety scores, respectively. The household expenditures and income quintiles are major drivers of the dietary diversity gap besides other socio-demographic characteristics such as household size, marital status, educational attainment, and food security status of households across rural-urban regions. The unexplained coefficient effect (unexplained effect) is due to unobservable factors such as the role of region-specific institutions and found significant only in the case of food variety scores.

OPPORTUNITY COST OF HOUSEHOLD WORK: GENDER PERSPECTIVE FOR PAKISTAN

Time allocation has always been considered an important factor to manage household activities for working hours and leisure. Females spent their substantial time to domestic chores, hence these responsibilities bounds their economic opportunities. The opportunity cost of household work especially for female accounted for higher therefore a vast segment of the society remains deprived and are not allowed to play their role in the labor market. The objective of the study is to find the opportunity cost of household work by region, province, age group, and gender for a different types of activities. Further study also explores the gender gap of household hours by Oaxaca and Blinder decomposition. Data for this study is gathered from the Labour Force Survey of Pakistan (LFS) for the period 2014-2015 and 2017-18. The findings of this study reveal that female household hours exceed male household hours. The opportunity cost of cooking and child-care are higher in rural and urban Punjab for females, while the opportunity cost for males is higher for firewood collection and fetching water. Key Words: Time Allocation, Household Work, Opportunity Cost, Oaxaca Blinder Decomposition JEL Classification: J22, D13, J3, B41

Comparison of catastrophic out-of-pocket medical expenditure among older adults in the United States and South Korea: what affects the apparent difference?

BackgroundMedical spending rises sharply with age. Even with universal health insurance, older adults may be at risk of catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending. We aimed to compare catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending among adults ages 65 and older in the United States, where seniors have near-universal coverage through Medicare, versus South Korea, where all residents have national health insurance.MethodsWe used the 2016 Health and Retirement Study and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. The study population were adults ages 65 and over in the US (n = 9,909) and South Korea (n = 4,450; N = 14,359). The primary outcome of interest was older adults’ exposure to catastrophic out-of-pocket medical expenditure, defined as out-of-pocket medical spending over the past two years that exceeded 50% of annual household income. To examine the factors affecting catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending of older adults in both countries, we performed logistic regression analyses. To compare the contribution of demographic factors versus health system-level factors to catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending, we performed a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition.ResultsThe proportion of respondents with catastrophic out-of-pocket medical expenditure was 5.8% and 3.0% in the US and South Korea, respectively. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition showed that the difference in the rate of catastrophic out-of-pocket medical expenditure spending between the two countries was attributable largely to unobservable system-level factors, rather than observed differences in the sociodemographic characteristics.ConclusionsExposure to catastrophic out-of-pocket medical spending is considerably higher in the US than South Korea. Most of the difference can be attributed to unobserved health system-level factors.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-08575-1.

The Impact of Higher Education on Health Literacy: A Comparative Study between Urban and Rural China

Health China 2030 calls for health equity. The strict household registration system, known as Hukou, results in an uneven distribution of social resources between urban and rural China. Higher education can promote social mobility and narrow health inequality. Health literacy is a significant indicator to predict health status. Drawing on national representative data recently collected, this study examines the impact of higher education on health literacy in urban and rural China. Propensity score matching was used to address potential selection bias. Ordinary least squares regressions and Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition techniques were conducted to explore urban-rural disparities in health benefits from higher education. The findings indicate that there are existing gaps in health literacy, higher education attainment, household income, and healthcare coverage between urban and rural China. Higher education attainment can significantly promote health literacy both in urban and rural China, after controlling for a series of demographic, socio-economic, and individual characteristics. Moreover, this study highlights a negative heterogenous treatment effect pattern: those who are less likely to attend college can obtain more health benefits from higher education than those who are more likely to be admitted into college. Public education and health programs, policies, and goals should be further optimized to promote integrated development in urban and rural China.

Investigating the role of multilevel social capital in ethnic income inequality in the Chinese labour market

This study examines to what extent individual- and county-level social capital respectively and jointly explain the Chinese ethnic income inequality. Using two waves of the Chinese General Social Survey data, social capital is operationalised into extensivity, upper reachability, mean prestige, and range via the position generator. Results show that social capital is unevenly distributed along the ethnic line in China, minorities are in disadvantaged position in accessing social capital, especially the number of occupation accessed and mean occupational prestige, compared with Han. When cross-level interactions are taken into account, with the increase of county-level social capital, its positive effect on minorities’ income attenuates while it become stronger for Han’s income. The differential returns of social capital on income between minorities and Han may be attributable to the mean prestige of their accessed position networks. Finally, the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis uncovers that when all variables are controlled for, there is still approximately 24 % of the income gap between minorities and Han remained unexplained, indicating the severe ethnic wage penalty minorities are facing in the Chinese labour market.

Predictors of the gender gap in household educational spending among school and college-going children in India

Though India has achieved near-universal primary school attendance and bridged the gender gap, secondary and technical education schooling remains low. Household ability to pay for education and gender norms at the household and societal levels are possible reasons for variations in school attendance and quality of schooling. Although various studies have examined the gender gap in enrolment and school discontinuation, there are limited studies on gender differentials in educational spending in Indian households. Using data from 174,810 school and college-going children aged 6–22 years from the 75th round of the National Sample Survey Organization, this paper explored the gender gap in household educational spending in India. Descriptive statistics, relative gap, and the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method were used in the analysis. The results suggests that school attendance was 82.7% (95% CI 82.0–83.3) among boys and 78.9% (95% CI 78.1–79.7) among girls aged 16–17 years and 63.1% (95% CI 62.6–63.6) among boys and 51.3% (95% CI 50.7–51.9) among girls aged 18–22 years. The difference in the average per capita educational spending between boys and girls was ₹828 at the primary level (ages 6–10), ₹935 at the middle/secondary level (ages 11–15), ₹3189 at the higher secondary level (ages 16–17), and ₹3813 in higher education (age 18–22). The results obtained from the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition analysis show that type of educational institution (public or private) contributed more than half of the variation in household educational spending among 6–10- and 11–15-year-old children and was the strongest contributor at every age. The education of the household head considerably reduced the gender gap in higher education. Locational disadvantage and the uniformity in the gender gap across all levels of the economic hierarchy suggest a behavioural bias in the intra-household allocation of educational resources across the states of India.

Determinants of age at first sex inequality between women and men youth in Uganda: A decomposition analysis.

Teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are major public health problems in Uganda. Early sexual debut is one of the main routes of these public health problems. This study aimed to identify factors that explain age at first sex inequality between men and women Ugandan youth. This study used secondary data from a cross-sectional Uganda demographic health survey (2016). Participants were 10 189 sexually experienced youth. Using Stata 14, intermediary analysis was done to assess the statistical association between explanatory variables and age at first sex in a multiple logistic regression analysis. Oaxaca decomposition was used to decompose factors that explain inequalities in age at first sex between men and women youth. Intermediary results showed Islam, many household members, residing in the eastern region, and being divorced/widowed were predictors of early age at first sex. While secondary education, higher education, blue-collar jobs, and being 20 to 30 years old were protective factors against early age at first sex. Material, behavior/cultural, psychosocial, and demographic explanatory factors jointly explained a statistically significant portion of the observed gap in early age at first sex between women and men youth. More women were at a disadvantage at an early age at first sex compared to men youth. About 96.37% of this gap was explained by unequal distribution of material, behavior/cultural, psychosocial, and demographic factors between men and women youth. Relationship to household head (49%), education (16.87%), occupation (8,94%), number of household members (8.57%), using the internet (7.99%), and reading newspapers or magazines (4.39%) made a significant contribution to the explanation of early age at first sex inequality between men and women youth. Results showed early age at first sex inequality between women and men youth that favored men. Programs designed to address early age at first sex and related health outcomes must combat inequities in education, employment opportunities, access to sexual reproductive information through internet, and newspapers or magazines between men and women youth. They should also foster household relationships and monitor girls.

Geospatial and Time Trend of Prevalence and Characteristics of Zero-Dose Children in Nigeria from 2003 to 2018.

Introduction: While recent years have observed a substantial improvement in vaccination coverage among children in developing countries, many children are still left out and remain unvaccinated. This study analyzes the trend of the prevalence and characteristics of zero-dose children in Nigeria over time. Methods: Using data from the Demographic and Health Survey in Nigeria from 2003 to 2018, I analyzed the prevalence and determinants of zero-dose children who had not received any DTP vaccine by geographical zone and over time. In addition, I conducted Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition analysis to evaluate the reasons for the change in the prevalence of zero-dose children over time. Results: The overall prevalence of zero-dose children reduced from over 60% in 2003 to 40% in 2018 in Nigeria. Rural areas had a higher prevalence of zero-dose children than urban areas and the gap was consistent over time. Southern zones consistently had a lower prevalence of zero-dose children, but northern zones observed more reductions in the prevalence of zero-dose children. The mother’s education and wealth level in a household are strongly associated with a lower likelihood of having zero-dose children. In both urban and rural areas, an improvement in the mother’s education level strongly explained the reduction in zero-dose children over time, while an increase in the wealth level also explained the reduction in zero-dose children in rural areas. Conclusions: While Nigeria has observed a substantial reduction in the prevalence of zero-dose children in the 15 years since 2003, the pattern of and explanatory factors for the reduction differ by geographical region. This analysis can be useful for identifying a targeting strategy to further reduce the prevalence of zero-dose children in Nigeria in the future.

Changes in Child Undernutrition and Overweight in India From 2006 to 2021: An Ecological Analysis of 36 States.

We evaluated changes in priority indicators of child growth from 2006 to 2021 and examined the role of human development measures in these changes. We estimated cumulative and annualized changes in state- and district-level child growth indicators using 3 rounds of National Family Health Surveys (2005-2006, 2015-2016, 2019-2021) in 36 states. Outcomes included stunting, underweight, wasting, and overweight. Human development was measured using a principal components analysis of 9 ecological indicators. We contrasted expected versus observed changes in district-level growth outcomes between 2016 and 2021 based on changes in development indicators using 2-way Blinder Oaxaca decomposition. From 2006 to 2021, the prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting decreased by 12.3, 10.3, and 0.7 percentage points, respectively, while the prevalence of overweight increased by 1.9 percentage points. The annualized rate of within-state change for stunting was lower from 2016 to 2021 compared with the 2006 to 2016 period, while the rate of change in overweight was higher. Simultaneously, all 9 human development indicators improved between 2006 and 2021. A unit increase between 2016 and 2021 in the human development score predicted a -5.1 percentage point (95% confidence interval=-5.8, -4.4) change in stunting, yet observed stunting declined by just -2.5 percentage points. From 2016 to 2021, population-level reduction in child stunting has slowed and the rise in child overweight has accelerated, relative to the 10 years preceding this period.

Contribution of sociodemographic determinants in explaining the nutritional gap between the richest-poorest women of Bangladesh: A decomposition approach.

Malnutrition among women disproportionately exists across socioeconomic classes of Bangladesh. According to our knowledge, studies which attempted to identify determinants and their contributions to explain BMI-based nutritional gap between the poorest and the richest categories of Wealth Index are still scarce. To identify the nutritional gap of women between the richest-poorest classes in Bangladesh, and to determine how much of this gap are attributed to differences in predictors and differences in coefficients. Reproductive-aged (15-49 years) women of Bangladesh. We utilized the latest round (2017-2018) data of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS). Body mass index (BMI) has been used to measure the nutritional status of women. The kernel density was used to visualize the nutritional gap. The Oaxaca-Blinder (OB) decomposition method was used to ascertain influential determinants and their contributions to the existing gap between the richest-poorest classes of women. We analyzed the data of 18,682 reproductive-aged women. There was a significant mean BMI gap of 4.1 unit (95% CI: 3.90-4.35) between the poorest-richest (25.6 vs 21.5) women. The overall prevalence of underweight, overweight and obese were 11.8%, 33.8% and 15.4%, respectively. The richest women were less underweight (7.5%) but more overweight (23.7%) and obese (42.2%). In contrast, the poorest women were more underweight (32.0%) but less overweight (13.9%) and obese (7.0%). According to results of OB decomposition method, all predictors combinedly can explain 1.62 units (95% CI: 1.31-1.93) of the total mean BMI gap (equivalent to 40%). Some of the major predictors were women years of education (0.45 units, 95% CI: 0.27-0.64), spouse years of education (0.16 units, 95% CI: -0.02-0.34), current working status (0.17 units, 95% CI: 0.10-0.34), access to Television (0.50 units, 95% CI: 0.28-0.72), and place of residence (0.37 units, 95% CI: 0.22-0.72). The unexplained part of the poorest-richest gap was 2.51 units (95% CI: 2.13-2.89), which means that this particular gap will remain unchanged even though the mean difference of the predictors was diminished. A large part of the nutritional gap (approximately 60%) between the poorest and richest classes of women are found to be unchanged by the predictors of the study. Therefore, further predictors should be identified to minimize such gap. Moreover, policy makers and relevant stakeholders should implement feasible strategies to minimize the existing differences in the major predictors.

Measuring the Changes in Income Distribution of Pakistan

A continuous rise in income inequality is a highly debated theme as many changes in the structure of income distribution have happened in Pakistan. This study explores the changes in income distribution during 1998-2018 in Pakistan. The study has used PIHS 1998-99 Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement survey data for 2007-08, and 2018-19, collected and administrated by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition methodology is used for estimation. The findings of the study show that education and experience significantly increase the average income. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition indicates that the wage gaps are; 0.172 between 1998-2007, -0.062 between 2007-2018, and 0.110 between 1998-2018, and significant at a 1% significance level. The wage gap was positive between 1998-2017 and 1998-2018, implying that the wage inequality increased in that period mainly due to the coefficient component, while the wage gap was negative between 2007-2018, showing the decrease in wage inequality due to the endowment component. Moreover, the endowment component of decomposition is negative for all years of interest and highly significant except for the wage gap during 1998-2007. The coefficients component is highly significant and positive for all the years, meaning that applying the coefficients of the labor force in 2007 and 2018 to the characteristics of the labor force in 1998. The interaction component is negative during 1998-2007 and 1998-2018 whereas positive during 2007-2018 and has a high p-value, except for 1998-2018. It is recommended that government policies should ensure an equitable distribution of income.

The Role of Area Deprivation in Explaining Ethnic Inequalities in Adult Oral Health in England.

The circumstances of the area where people live may affect their health and ethnic minority groups are often overrepresented in deprived areas. This study explored ethnic inequalities in adult oral health and the contribution of area deprivation to explain such inequalities. Data from 15667 adults across 8 ethnicities (White British, Irish, Black Caribbean, Black African, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese) in the Health Survey for England 2010/2011 were analysed. Oral health was indicated by having a non-functional dentition, poor self-rated oral health and oral impacts on daily activities. Survey logistic regression and the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method were used. There were ethnic inequalities in the non-functional dentition, but not in self-rated oral health or oral impacts. Compared to White British adults (19.7%, 95% CI: 18.9, 20.6), a non-functional dentition was more common in Irish (33.1%, 95% CI: 25.9, 41.2) and less common in Black Caribbean (14.9%, 95% CI: 9.9, 21.7), Black African (6.9%, 95% CI: 3.9, 11.9), Indian (10.5%, 95% CI: 6.3, 17.2), Pakistani (7.2%, 95% CI: 4.5, 11.5), Bangladeshi (12.7%, 95% CI: 4.3, 32.3) and Chinese (2.2%, 95% CI: 0.6, 7.9) adults. In decomposition analysis, observed population characteristics explained over half of the ethnic inequalities in the non-functional dentition. Age, area deprivation and SEP were the main contributors, although results varied by ethnicity. Ethnic inequalities in adult oral health varied according to oral health measure and ethnicity. Area deprivation and SEP contributed to, but did not fully, explain such inequalities.

Farmers' personality traits and credit exclusion: Evidence from rural China.

Unlike existing research from the perspective of financiers or farmers’ financial literacy, this Manuscript investigates the impact of personality traits on Chinese farmers’ credit exclusion using data from 2018 to 2019 of China Agricultural University’s Rural Inclusive Finance Survey. The empirical findings show that farmers’ personality traits significantly affect their credit exclusion. Specifically, conscientiousness and extroversion alleviate the credit exclusion, while agreeableness significantly intensifies the credit exclusion. In addition, the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method is used to analyze the contribution of personality traits to each dimension of credit exclusion, and the results of the study show that personality traits mainly affected farmers’ self-exclusion. Therefore, to develop inclusive finance in China, training and improving farmers’ positive personality traits must be fostered.

Grandchild care, inadequate medical insurance protection, and inequalities in socioeconomic factors exacerbate childhood obesity in China.

This study examines the influences of grandchild care and medical insurance on childhood obesity. Nationally representative longitudinal data—from the China Family Panel Studies 2010–2020—of 26,902 school-age children and adolescents aged 6–16 years and China's new reference standard (“WS/T586-2018”) are used to identify a child's obesity status. Using binary mixed-effects logistic regression models and the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method, this study explores the roots of obesity inequalities and finds that at least 15% of Chinese children aged 6–16 were obese in the 2010s. The logistic regression analysis results indicate that grandchild care, public medical insurance, and commercial medical insurance are key risk factors of child obesity. However, the influences are heterogeneous in different groups: Grandchild care and public medical insurance increase urban–rural obesity inequalities because of a distribution effect, and grandchild care may also exacerbate children obesity inequalities between left-behind and non-left-behind children owing to the event shock of parental absence. Inequalities in socioeconomic status (SES) factors such as income, education, and region also cause obesity inequalities. These results indicate that child obesity and its inequalities are rooted in multidimensional environmental inequalities, including medical protection policies and its benefit incidence; intergenerational behavior and family SES factors; and urban–rural and left-behind risk shocks. This study provides new evidence for the development of population-based interventions and equitable medical insurance policies to prevent the deterioration of child obesity among Chinese school-age children and adolescents.