Cent Of Households Research Articles

Income Inequality and Consumption Pattern Among BOP Consumers in India

Marketing discipline has evolved through the context of the industrialized or developed world. However, the largest groups of consumers are also the poorest (Bottom of the Pyramid category) and economic inequality is still persisting among BOP consumers. Using the Gini co-efficient, economic inequality was measured with the help of World Bank report. The main aim of this paper is to know about the trends that took place in income inequality and consumption pattern among BOP consumers based on household surveys (from NSSO and World Bank). It shows that income inequality among BOP consumers has been increasing simultaneously with increase in consumption pattern among BOP consumers because income growth would leads to truly middle-class led one with growing of consumer spending from $1.5 trillion to $6 trillion by 2030. Further, income growth lifts 25 million households from poverty and in 2030 among that fewer than 5 per cent of households will be in below poverty.

The Income and Consumption Effects of COVID-19 and the Role of Public Policy.

We provide empirical evidence on the labour market impacts of COVID‐19 in the UK and assess the effectiveness of mitigation policies. We estimate the relationship between employment outcomes and occupational and industrial characteristics and assess the effects on consumption. Seventy per cent of households in the bottom fifth of the earnings distribution hold insufficient assets to maintain current spending for more than one week. We compare the effectiveness of the UK's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and of Economic Impact Payments in the US. The EIPs are more effective at mitigating consumption reductions as they have full coverage, depend on household structure and are higher for low‐income workers.

Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture: Level, Inequality, Progress, and Impact on Productivity and Efficiency

This paper examines level, inequality, and change in women’s empowerment in agriculture and its impact on crop productivity and efficiency using a nationally representative Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) of 5,780 and 6,195 households from the same villages in Bangladesh in 2012 and 2015 conducted by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Results reveal that although women’s empowerment score increased significantly from 0.64 to 0.73 between 2012 to 2015, only the top 40 per cent of households have an adequate level of women’s empowerment in agriculture, that is, scored above the threshold level of 0.80. The gender-gap in empowerment also reduced significantly from 0.23 to 0.20 during the same period. Female labour input significantly increases productivity. Both women’s empowerment in agriculture and a reduction in the gender-gap in empowerment significantly increase production efficiency as expected. Efficiency is significantly lower in the Feed the Future Zone. However, female labour use and female education significantly reduce efficiency although the effects are relatively small. The findings argue for policies specifically targeting women to enhance women’s empowerment in agriculture and reduce the gender-gap in empowerment.

The Effect of COVID-19 on Livelihood and Food Security: A Rapid Study in Nepal

Conducted during the time of business interruptions and lock-down, this research aims to examine the immediate effect of COVID-19 upon household livelihood, food security and coping strategies. This research has capitalized the part of data of 839 households collected through telephone surveys from 13 districts in May 2020 by World Vision International Nepal. The analysis has revealed that the occurrence of this pandemic pushed additional 11.6 per cent households into food insecurity and reduced average household cash income by 68 per cent. To cope with emerging livelihood and food security issues, the households have adopted different coping strategies viz.: emergency (1.0%), crisis (23.1%), stress (24.0%), and coping not required (52.0%). The ordinal logistic regression test demonstrates that household’s affiliation to saving groups or cooperatives, economic class, rural-urban setting and caste are significant predictors to influence the quality of the household coping strategy. Based on the findings and contemporary other studies, this paper has urged for attention towards the economic recovery of the vulnerable people.

Risk Shifts in the Gig Economy: The Normative Case for an Insurance Scheme against the Effects of Precarious Work*

Risk Shifts in the Gig Economy: The Normative Case for an Insurance Scheme against the Effects of Precarious Work*

Demystifying the Contribution of African Indigenous Vegetables to Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chains in Kenya

African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) are widely consumed in Kenya as part of everyday meals. They provide the much-needed micro-nutrients which are critical for combating micronutrient deficiencies (“hidden hunger”). The study describes the socio-economic characterizes of households in rural and peri-urban areas in Kenya and appraises the contribution of AIVs to household food access. The results show that there are spatial variations in the consumption of AIVs. Households living in rural areas have a wider variety of vegetables and consume their own production for an estimated ten months in a year; at the same time, purchase vegetables for between 6-7 months. Their peri-urban counterparts have less variety, consume their own produce for 11 months in the year and purchase for 8-9 months. Household income plays a critical role in enabling participation in food markets, Households living in rural areas earn significantly less on average from their land, their annual salary and net profits compared to their peri-urban colleagues. At least 40 per cent of households living in rural areas compared to an estimated 20 per cent in peri-urban areas grade their vegetables. In contrast, 50 per cent of all households wash their vegetables before consumption. In conclusion, households’ living in rural areas are net buyers of food, indicating that interventions to ensure increased consumption of AIVs must be accompanied by broad-based livelihood improvements to ensure that benefits accrue. Also, there is a need to underscore the importance of extension services as knowledge brokers.

Household waste disposal mechanisms in Sri Lanka: Nation-wide survey evidence for their trends and determinants

This study provides Sri Lanka-wide empirical evidence on trends and determinants of waste disposal mechanisms at household level over the past decade from 2007 to 2016. The study uses the data of 60,820 households from three waves of the Sri Lanka income and expenditure survey and estimates a multinomial logistic regression model. The descriptive statistics show that though Sri Lankan households predominantly burn waste (currently, 44.91 per cent of households), there is an emerging trend of shifting the main mechanism more towards waste collection arrangements.Urban and wealthier households headed by older and more literate individuals are more likely to use municipal waste collection arrangements. Also, older and more literate headship, larger land size, ownership of house, presence of spouse, and being in the richest expenditure quartile significantly increase the likelihood of composting. Burning and dumping waste within premises are preferred by the households representing various socio-economic subgroups except urban households. The results imply expansion of municipal services, implementing province-and sector-specific waste management policies, and promoting methods for safe burning and treating waste before dumping.

Joint provision of income and employment support: Evidence from a crisis response in Uruguay

There is an increasing recognition in the policy debate of the importance of providing support to unemployed individuals through a combination of income support and active labour market policies. However, very little evidence exists on the effectiveness of this policy approach (and possible trade-offs) beyond developed economies. We provide one of the first evaluations of these schemes in the context of an emerging economy by looking at a public works programme implemented in Uruguay between 2005 and 2007 as part of a comprehensive cash transfer intervention that reached around 10 per cent of households in the country during a major recession. Exploiting specific eligibility criteria for participation in the cash transfer programme, we use rich administrative data of panel nature to study the effects of (i) participating in the public works programme (active component), (ii) receiving the cash transfer (income-support component) and, (iii) of benefiting of both the active and income-support programmes. We find that participation in the active programme has positive (albeit only marginally significant) effects on the employment probability, but non-significant effects on the quality of the job found. The positive employment effect does not generate displacement effects from participants to non-participants within the same household. However, the effect fades away when participants receive the cash transfer. Finally, the programme did not have any effect on measures of civic engagement and social integration.

Determinants of Rural Households Food Insecurity in Southern Ethiopia

Aim: This study aimed at examining the level and determinants of food insecurity of rural households in Southern Ethiopia using a sample of 574 households and two-stage least square estimation.
 Materials and Methods: A total sample of 574 rural households was selected from the three Districts proportionately: 160, 262 and 178 sample households from Demba Gofa, Kamba and Chencha District respectively. Samples of 11 kebeles or Peasant Associations were selected from the three Districts proportionately depending on the number of kebeles in each District.
 Results: The mean level of household food insecurity access score is 7.1847 or about 79.83 per cent of households in the study areas are food insecure. The study found that rural households at moisture stress low lands are more food insecure compared to households at middle lands and high lands. The two-stage least square estimation also revealed that food availability theory related factors such as family size and land size significantly affect food insecurity in the study areas. Moreover, food entitlement theory related factors like market access, education, livestock ownership, off-farm participation and productive safety net participation also significantly influenced food insecurity in Southern Ethiopia. Thus, both the demand and supply side factors are the main causes of food insecurity in Southern Ethiopia.
 Conclusion: Government has to invest in infrastructure so as to link production centres with consumption centres. Transforming the highly vulnerable rain-fed agriculture to more resilient irrigation-based agriculture is crucial so as to boost agricultural productivity and set an end to food insecurity in the country. Provision financial services and off-farm job opportunities for rural unbanked people, population control via family planning or adult education and ensuring political stability can reduce the vulnerability of the population to food insecurity in the study areas.

Role Of Social Media In Sustaining Business During Corona Virus Pandemic

Due to Corona Virus Pandemic (Covid-19), several countries across the world resorted to lockdowns in order to protect their people from getting infected from the virus. But these lockdowns confined millions of citizens to their homes restricting their mobility. Restricted mobilization resulted in shutting down businesses and ceasing almost all economic activities. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economy is expected to shrink by over 3 per cent in 2020, the steepest slowdown since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Another analysis by International Monetary Fund reveals that demand in the manufacturing sector has gone down in many countries of the world that further resulted in unemployment. During the lockdown, an estimated 14 crore (140 million) people lost employment while salaries were cut for many others. More than 45 per cent of households across the nation have reported an income drop as compared to the previous year. Thus, Covid-19/ Crona virus outbreak has presented new and significant downside risks to the global economic outlook. In the case of India too, some economists revealed that during lockdown there is ajoblossof40millionpeople(MRD report) in the country, that’s too in the unorganized sectors. Moreover, with the advent of the lockdown most of the sector shifted their functioning online or work from home in order to sustain their working. During shutdown it is also observed that the digital world got a push, sale of mobile phones and related gadgets increased. The small as well as big traders, businessmen started using apps like watsepp, Face book, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, PayTM etc more frequently. Undoubtedly, social media has helped in sustaining economy and business during the Corona Virus Pandemic. The present research work is an effort to look upon the role of social media in sustaining business during lockdown. Data were collected empirically again with the help of social media. Results revealed that impacts of lockdown were different on different types of businesses.

Market Development Initiative for Bondhu Chula in Creating Entrepreneurs: A Case from Kachuai Union, Patiya Upazila, Chattogram

The purpose of the study is to assess the effectiveness of the project, “Market Development Initiativefor Bondhu Chula”. Most people in the rural area of Bangladesh use a traditional cooking device.Biomass is the primary source of energy for cooking devices. The limitations of traditional cookingdevices demand the introduction of Bandhu Chula, which is claimed to be energy efficient andenvironment-friendly. Hence potential entrepreneurs were trained to produce and sell this newdevice. The study employed a qualitative approach. Fourteen stakeholders were interviewed. Thestudy found that users were not aware of this, and the local government representatives were notsensitized. Only 4 per cent of households at Kachuai union of Patiya upazila of Chottogram werefound to use Bondhu chula – a fact, which indicates that the project failed to create entrepreneurs.However, the users, and women, in particular, were found to be happy to use this cooking device as itis less time consuming, energy-efficient, less costly and easy to cook.

Availability and Utilization of Sanitation Facilities: A Micro Study from Rural Tamil Nadu

About 4 billion citizens around the world lack access to proper sanitation, meaning they are forced to practice open defecation. The health consequences for those living without using toilets are severe. Approximately 480,000 children under5 year age die annually from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and a lack of access to proper sanitation. That’s almost 2,000 kids a day. In developing countries like India, 57 per cent of households do not have a toilet. And in Tamil Nadu mainly, it was at 52 per cent. In India, civil societies and local government play a vital role in rural development, and they are responsible for transforming the socio-economic features of the villages in India. The central and state governments are implementing many schemes like the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), and so on to protect child and women’s health. Both governments to give reward for full achievement of gram panchayats like Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) and reward up to Rs. 10 lakhs. Tamil Nadu provides an award with for Clean Village Campaign (CVC), and the reward is Rs. 5 lakhs at the state government level, The present study focuses on the availability and utilisation of sanitation facilities in Manjakuttai gram panchayat (GP). This GP awarded NGP in 2008. So the present paper contains the importance and need of the study, literature review, objectives of the study, methodology, general observation, rural sanitation etc.; An attempt is made, to study the sanitation facilities in general and particular to study the Manjakuttai GP of Yercaud block in Salem district, Tamil Nadu.

The Role of Informal Local Institutions in Food Security of Rural Households in Southwest Ethiopia

Among sub-Saharan countries, Ethiopia is known for its dominant informal institutions and chronic problem of food insecurity. However, the role of local institutions in households' food security in Ethiopia is less understood. Thus, the aim of the study was to identify local informal institutions and their roles in household food security. Mixed methods research was used to collect and analyse data relating to membership in local institutions and their food consumption. A logit model was employed to identify the role of local institutions in households' food security. The result showed that 45.1 per cent of households were food insecure. Rural households' membership in Iddir, Equib, Debo and Jarsumma strongly helped them escape food insecurity. On the one hand, participation in women's associations and Jiga did not significantly contribute to their food security. On the other hand, Dado was found to reduce their food security. We conclude that the programmes and policies that target food security should provide support to those informal institutions that successfully contributed to hunger reduction.

The Housing Situations of Food Bank Users in Great Britain

Food bank use in Great Britain has risen substantially over the last decade. The considerable socioeconomic disadvantage of the food bank user population has been documented, but little research has examined whether housing problems intersect with insecure food access. Using data from 598 households accessing assistance from twenty-four food banks operating in Great Britain in 2016–2017, we found that nearly 18 per cent of households were homeless, with more having experienced homelessness in the past twelve months. Renters from both the private and social rented sectors were also overrepresented in the sample. Households in both private and social rented housing reported high rates of rent arrears and poor conditions; those in private housing were also more likely to live in homes with damp, to have moved in past year, and to be worried about a forced move in future. Overall, housing problems are widespread among food bank users; policy interventions are needed.

Prevalence of substance use disorders in Punjab: Findings from National Mental Health Survey

Background & objectives:Substance use disorders are a major public health concern in Punjab. However, reliable estimates of prevalence of substance use disorders are not available for the State. The present study reports estimates of prevalence of substance use disorders in Punjab, conducted as part of National Mental Health Survey, India.Methods:Using multistage stratified random cluster sampling, 2895 individuals from 719 households of 60 clusters (from 4 districts of Punjab) were interviewed. Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and Fagerstrom nicotine dependence scale were used to assess substance use disorders.Results:The sample comprised almost equal numbers of males and females. Nearly 80 per cent had less than or equal to high school education, and 70 per cent were married. The weighted prevalence of alcohol and other substance use disorders was 7.9 and 2.48 per cent, respectively. The prevalence of tobacco dependence was 5.5 per cent; 35 per cent households had one person with substance use disorder. The prevalence was highest in the productive age group (30-39 yr), urban metro and less educated persons. The prevalence of alcohol and other substance use disorders was much higher in Punjab as compared to other States where survey was done. Tobacco dependence was lowest in Punjab. Majority (87%) of the persons with substance use disorders did not suffer from any other mental disorder. Treatment gap was 80 per cent.Interpretation & conclusions:Punjab has a high burden of substance use disorders. The estimates will help clinicians and policymakers to plan the strategies against the menace of substance use disorders effectively.

Socio-personal and economic profile of ITK practicing dairy farmers in Palghar district of Maharashtra

The present study was conducted in Palghar district of Maharashtra with the sample size of 120 tribal dairy farmers. Out of eight blocks in Palghar district three tribal blocks namely Dahanu, Talasariand and Jawhar, two villages from each block and 20 respondents (who had at least one milch animal at the time of study) were selected randomly. It was found that the majority (70.00%) of the farmers were old (>50 years), illiterate (57.50%) with medium family size (61.67%) having 7 to 11 members in the family living in joint families (98.33%). Agriculture with dairying was the main occupation of the respondents (97.51%); most of them (65.83%) were small farmers (1–2 ha landholding) and all had cattle. It was observed that the milk production was very low as majority of the households (85.00%) got only less than 1 litre milk per day whereas 73.33 per cent households consumed medium level of milk (1–2 litres). Majority of the respondents (66.67%) did not sell milk. The annual income of majority (80.00%) of the respondents was low (up to Rs 31, 000). Majority of the farmers (87.50 and 76.67%) were having medium level of exposure to mass media and extension contact respectively. But their (65.83%) social participation was low.

Population and Social Demographic Poverty: a Case Study in the Border Areas of East Kalimantan and North Sulawesi

This paper discusses the social-demographic dimensions of poverty and is based on findings from a four-year research program (20069) conducted by PPKLIPI in the border areas of East Kalimantan and North Sulawesi. The general objective of this study is to develop methods for measuring poverty using social-demographic variables: fertility, mortality, migration, education, marriage and occupation. This research used quantitative and qualitative approaches. The intention in using these two approaches was to enable comprehensive data to be gathered on multidimensional aspects of social-demographic poverty. The quantitative data were collected by using survey techniques; a sample of 400 households was taken from each area. Qualitative data were obtained from in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observation and desk reviews. The findings show that some socialdemographic variables are likely to be related (correlate) to household poverty; such variables as mean years of schooling of household members aged 15 years and above (below six years of education), the number of children born to the household (more than two) and children below five years of age who had died in the household. The regression results (factor analysis) reveal that about 43.1 per cent and 49 per cent of households are categorised as poor households in the border areas of East Kalimantan and North Sulawesi respectively.

Wealth Ownership and Inequality in India: A Socio-religious Analysis

This article analyses wealth inequality across socio-religious groups in the country and across the states based on the All India Debt and Investment Survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office in 2013. The result shows that one-fourth of the total wealth is concentrated in the hands of the top 1 per cent households, whereas 75 per cent of the total wealth is concentrated in the top 20 per cent households. On the contrary, a very small proportion of the assets, that is, 3.4 per cent, are owned by the bottom 40 per cent households. The Hindu high castes (HHCs) have the highest ownership of wealth as compared to any other socio-religious group with respect to the share of wealth and average household wealth ownership. Interestingly, HHCs also have the highest inequality as compared to any other group.

Urban Household Energy Demand in Southwest Nigeria

AbstractIn response to changing prices, incomes and demographics, household use of various fuels such as electricity, gas, kerosene and fuel wood have changed over the years. In this paper we estimate income and price elasticities of household demand for various types of energy in urban southwest Nigeria. Household micro‐data was collected via the administration of a questionnaire. Empirical analysis showed that all energy goods are inelastic for own price elasticities and cross price elasticities. Most of the cross price effects are negative values indicating complementarity between energy goods. This suggests that substitution possibilities between energy goods are quite limited. However, kerosene is shown to be the main fuel used for cooking by about 90 per cent of households; the use of LPG and electricity is minimal. The income group analysis further shows that kerosene is preferred across all income groups. Budget share allocations reveal that households allocate a greater share of their income (40 per cent) to kerosene consumption while LPG gets the lowest share allocation of (3 per cent).

Do brands compete or coexist? How persistence of brand loyalty segments the market

PurposeThis study aims to question the conventional wisdom that brands compete for customers, especially in mature industries such as soft drinks. Rather than engaging in price wars or promotion wars, brands coexist in the markets by focusing on their own brand loyal customers.Design/methodology/approachConsumer panel data of carbonated beverages are examined using Markov chains to measure switching between two brands: Coke and Pepsi. Switching rates are conducted for all Coke households (n = 10,474) and Pepsi households (n = 7,227). This is further examined with respect to heavy half (upper median) consumers of each brand who make up approximately 86 per cent of volume purchases.FindingsHouseholds that made a majority of their purchase volume in either Coke or Pepsi products stayed with their preferred brands in subsequent quarters: 85 to 97 per cent of households. These findings are validated at all levels of the brand architecture (family brands, product brands and modified brands), even though both brands engage in similar marketing mix tactics (advertising, price cuts, distribution, product offerings). Loyalty was even higher among the heavy user households.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was conducted using two well-known brands in a mature industry. Services or non-mature markets may exhibit different loyalty patterns.Originality/valueThe study extends prior research on competition, loyalty and branded offerings to show that brand loyalty remains high despite marketing efforts to switch the brand buying behavior.