Household Perspective Research Articles

Economic burden of malaria and predictors of cost variability to rural households in south-central Ethiopia.

BackgroundWhile recognizing the recent remarkable achievement in the global malaria reduction, the disease remains a challenge to the malaria endemic countries in Africa. Beyond the huge health consequence of malaria, policymakers need to be informed about the economic burden of the disease to the households. However, evidence on the economic burden of malaria in Ethiopia is scanty. The aims of this study were to estimate the economic burden of malaria episode and to identify predictors of cost variability to the rural households.MethodsA prospective costing approach from a household perspective was employed. A total of 190 malaria patients were enrolled to the study from three health centers and nine health posts in Adami Tullu district in south-central Ethiopia, in 2015. Primary data were collected on expenditures due to malaria, forgone working days because of illness, socioeconomic and demographic situation, and households’ assets. Quantile regression was applied to predict factors associated with the cost variation. Socioeconomic related inequality was measured using concentration index and concentration curve.ResultsThe median cost of malaria per episode to the household was USD 5.06 (IQR: 2.98–8.10). The direct cost accounted for 39%, while the indirect counterpart accounted for 61%. The history of malaria in the last six months and the level of the facility visited in the health system predominantly influenced the direct cost. The indirect cost was mainly influenced by the availability of antimalarial drugs in the health facility. The concentration curve and the concentration index for direct cost indicate significant pro-rich inequality. Plasmodium falciparum is significantly more costly for households compared to Plasmodium vivax.ConclusionThe economic burden of malaria to the rural households in Ethiopia was substantial—mainly to the poor—indicating that reducing malaria burden could contribute to the poverty reduction as well.

Being close to ethnic peers: the formation of ethnic residential clustering from a household perspective

ABSTRACTTo assess the impact of segregation a better understanding is required why minorities and natives decide to move closer to ethnic peers. This study investigates the drivers for ethnic residential clustering from a household perspective. For this, household panel data for Germany is linked to small-scale information on the share of co-ethnic neighbours and to the number of regional housing offers and requests. As a result, life-course changes and indicators of cultural openness show similar effects on ethnic residential clustering for migrants and natives. For both, becoming married, inter-ethnic partnerships and moving out of the parental home lead to lower shares of neighbours with the same ethnic background. Major differences exist regarding contextual factors. Natives are more likely to self-segregate in times of increasing housing supply while migrants seem to face limitations in access to housing in times of increasing housing demand. The results highlight the importance of the housing market and the relation of moving choices between migrants and natives in the formation of ethnic residential clustering.

Access to modern energy: a review of barriers, drivers and impacts

AbstractUniversal access to modern energy services, in terms of access to electricity and to modern cooking facilities, has been recognized as a fundamental challenge for development. Despite strong praise for action and the deployment of large-scale electrification programs and improved cookstove (ICS) distribution campaigns, few studies have shed light on the barriers to, the enablers of and the impacts of access to energy on development outcomes, using rigorous methodologies. This paper reviews this recent strand of research, trying to fill these gaps. The authors focus on the demand-side and household perspective. Their main outcomes of interest are electricity connection and ICS adoption for the analysis of barriers, time allocation, labor market outcomes and welfare for the impact analysis. They provide evidence of significant wellbeing impacts of electrification and mixed evidence for cookstoves.

Access to Modern Energy: A Review of Barriers, Drivers and Impacts

Universal access to modern energy services, in terms of access to electricity and to modern cooking facilities, has been recognized as a fundamental challenge for development. Despite strong praise for action and the deployment of large-scale electrification programs and improved cookstove (ICS) distribution campaigns, few studies have shed light on the barriers to, the enablers of and the impacts of access to energy on development outcomes, using rigorous methodologies. This paper reviews this recent strand of research, trying to fill these gaps. We focus on the demand-side and household perspective. Our main outcomes of interest are electricity connection and ICS adoption for the analysis of barriers, time allocation, labour market outcomes and welfare for the impact analysis. We provide evidence of significant wellbeing impacts of electrification, and mixed evidence for cookstoves.

What drives the profitability of household PV investments, self-consumption and self-sufficiency?

Many countries introduced subsidy schemes that were successful in incentivising investments into residential solar PV. The resulting growth of the global PV market was accompanied by cost reductions for PV systems, reductions of PV subsidies and, often, increasing electricity retail prices. Along with decreasing costs for battery storages, these developments made self-consumption and self-sufficiency continuously more attractive. However, the profitability of PV-storage systems depends on many factors, including technological, political and geographical aspects. We present a simulation model to identify the most profitable sizes of PV and storage systems from a household perspective and explore what drives the profitability of self-consumption and self-sufficiency. We compare and contrast Germany and Ireland to account for regulatory and geographical differences. Our results show that PV-storage systems are generally profitable in Germany and that, after minor technology cost reductions, this result holds even in the absence of subsidies. In Ireland, such systems are not yet profitable but this may change soon with expected technology costs reductions. The share of electricity demand that will be required from the grid may be reduced to 25–35%. Implications for the electricity retail business and policy makers are discussed including distributional concerns and system efficiency considerations.

Energy Vulnerability Composite Index in Social Housing, from a Household Energy Poverty Perspective

In Europe, the proportion of social housing is high, and such houses tend to be inhabited by below average-income households, which are particularly vulnerable to energy poverty. This article proposes a new methodological approach for defining an index for household energy vulnerability assessment. This method can be used to improve the management of social housing. After establishing a heuristic framework for household energy poverty–which stems from different causes such as income, the characteristics of the residence, energy installations, and the energy-consumption habits of household members–multi-criteria analytical methods, based on the aggregation of indicators which reveal the conditions leading to energy poverty, have been applied, and effective means of intervention are proposed. The method is also applied to a sample of social houses and thus validated as a useful tool in decision-making processes which concern the management of social housing from a household energy-poverty perspective.

Community perception of the real impacts of human–wildlife conflict in Laikipia, Kenya: capturing the relative significance of high-frequency, low-severity events

AbstractBiodiversity conservation outside protected areas requires cooperation from affected communities, hence the extensive discussions of trade-offs in conservation, and of a so-called new conservation that addresses human relations with nature more fully. Human–wildlife conflict is one aspect of those relations, and as land use intensifies around protected areas the need to understand and manage its effects will only increase. Research on human–wildlife conflict often focuses on individual species but given that protecting wildlife requires protecting habitat, assessments of human–wildlife conflict should include subsidiary impacts that are associated with ecosystem conditions. Using a case study from Laikipia, Kenya, where conservation outside protected areas is critical, we analysed human–wildlife conflict from a household perspective, exploring the full range of impacts experienced by community members on Makurian Group Ranch. We addressed questions about four themes: (1) the relationship between experienced and reported human–wildlife conflict; (2) the results of a high-resolution assessment of experienced human–wildlife conflict; (3) the relative impact of high-frequency, low-severity conflict vs high-severity, low-frequency conflict; and (4) the effect of experienced conflict on receptivity to the conservation narrative. Our results show that high-frequency, low-severity conflict, which is often absent from reports and discussion in the literature, is a significant factor in shaping a community's perception of the cost–benefit ratio of conservation. Local, ongoing, high-resolution monitoring of human–wildlife conflict may facilitate more realistic and effective incorporation of the experienced impacts of human–wildlife conflict in conservation planning and management. Such monitoring could help to define locally appropriate trade-offs in conservation and thereby improve conservation outcomes.

Optimal sizing of residential PV-systems from a household and social cost perspective: A case study in Austria

In this paper we analyse optimal sizing of grid connected rooftop photovoltaic systems from a household’s perspective. We estimate the profit maximizing size for more than 800 households in Austria for various electricity tariffs and subsidy schemes considering economies of scale related to the investment costs of photovoltaic systems in the size range of 1–20kW of installed capacity. Size dependent investment costs are estimated from data on photovoltaic systems installed in Austria from 2008 to 2013. We then take a social cost perspective and relate the results to the total investment costs to install a certain amount of capacity in residential areas. We find that in the presence of economies of scale substantial cost inefficiencies can occur resulting from incentives to install relatively small systems. Depending on the compensation scheme the simulated optimal system size can be as low as 2kW resulting in high costs per capacity. Subsidy design and tariff regulations can be adopted to incentivize larger photovoltaic systems in the residential sector which would reduce the costs of achieving a certain level of distributed PV generation. It is estimated that for a minimum system size of 5kW total investment costs for subsidised residential photovoltaic systems in Austria from 2008 to 2013 could have been 2.2% lower for the same amount of installed capacity. We further argue that the strict focus on onsite use of electricity from photovoltaic systems in the residential area is not necessarily desirable from a social cost perspective because it can lead to small and therefore more expensive photovoltaic systems.

The knowledge, awareness, attitude and motivational analysis of plastic waste and household perspective in Malaysia.

The focus of this study is to analyze the level of knowledge, awareness, and attitude toward plastic waste and to distinguish the key drivers that encourage the households in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to participate in "No plastic campaign," This study used the logistic regression model to explain the factors that may affect the willingness to participate (WTP) of households in the campaign. In this study, it is found that 35% of households are willing to participate in the campaign. The results of the study also indicate that people who are more informed and more convinced of their knowledge have a more positive attitude toward recycling than their counterparts do. Furthermore, this study provides additional evidence of the level and classification of importance of motivating factors for plastic recycling, using the modified average and coefficient of variation of the models. From the analysis, the factor "helps reduce landfill use" is found as the most important factor and the factor of "raising money for charity" is found as the least important factor that motivates households to participate in recycling. The determinations of the study suggest some strategies that could hold implications for government and households to boost them to participate in the campaign "No Plastic Bag."

Rotavirus vaccines contribute towards universal health coverage in a mixed public-private healthcare system.

To evaluate rotavirus vaccination in Malaysia from the household's perspective. The extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) framework quantifies the broader value of universal vaccination starting with non-health benefits such as financial risk protection and equity. These dimensions better enable decision-makers to evaluate policy on the public finance of health programmes. The incidence, health service utilisation and household expenditure related to rotavirus gastroenteritis according to national income quintiles were obtained from local data sources. Multiple birth cohorts were distributed into income quintiles and followed from birth over the first five years of life in a multicohort, static model. We found that the rich pay more out of pocket (OOP) than the poor, as the rich use more expensive private care. OOP payments among the poorest although small are high as a proportion of household income. Rotavirus vaccination results in substantial reduction in rotavirus episodes and expenditure and provides financial risk protection to all income groups. Poverty reduction benefits are concentrated amongst the poorest two income quintiles. We propose that universal vaccination complements health financing reforms in strengthening Universal Health Coverage (UHC). ECEA provides an important tool to understand the implications of vaccination for UHC, beyond traditional considerations of economic efficiency.

Economic burden of breast cancer to the households in Punjab, India

Introduction: Breast cancer is on rise and cervix cancer is on declining mode according to the cancer registry data in India. The major mode of financing treatment is out-of-pocket (OOP) and this can push 25% of the cancer affected households below the poverty line. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study with a household perspective was done in the state of Punjab. By using probability proportional to the size method and systematic random sampling, the sample was drawn from every district of Punjab. A face-to-face semi-structured interview schedule was administered to 221 patients. Results: The direct cost contributed 79% toward the total cost-of-illness. The cost of drugs (36.23%) followed by cost of hospitalization (27.05%) and productivity loss (13.44%) were the main contributors toward the total cost of illness. The contribution of indirect cost is 21 per cent of the total cost. The cost of treatment depends upon type of facility used (more in private as compared to the public), stage of cancer (stage above first stage cost more than the first stage), and age at the time of diagnosis aged above sixty incurred more expenditure as compared to the aged below sixty. The 84% of the households had experienced the catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) and 51% of the households had faced distress financing (DF). The main financial coping strategies*(*multiple strategies) used were saving (74%), borrowing at low rate of interest (88%), social nets (55%), and selling financial assets (30%).

The Socio‐Economic Sustainability of Refugee Return: Insights from Burundi

AbstractThis paper studies the socio‐economic sustainability of refugee return in Burundi using household and community data collected from 1,500 households. Socio‐economic sustainability is studied using a wider view that not only compares return households with non‐return households but also focuses on the effects of return on entire communities. Sustainability is operationalised as a multidimensional concept that includes both objective and subjective indicators. The results reveal that from a household perspective and from a community perspective, the sustainability of return in Burundi can be questioned. Return households are less likely to own agricultural land, which is one of the most important assets in Burundi. Households with second‐generation returnees – the children of former refugees who were born abroad – also report worse living conditions. Community analyses show that food insecurity is higher in communities with more first‐generation returnees, and in communities with more second‐generation returnees, all households (return and non‐return) have lower living conditions, lower subjective wealth, and experienced more negative changes in wealth in recent years. These findings provide support for studying sustainability from a wider view that incorporates both household and community perspectives, together with a multidimensional approach that includes multiple indicators. The results also show that returnees are not a uniform group by highlighting the additional challenges confronted by second‐generation returnees in Burundi. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Who cares? A Counterfactual Analysis of Household Work Intensity in Households with Disabled Family Members

Disability policy has been dominated by two views, namely the medical and the social model. Employment policies stemming from these two models differ substantially. Yet, both models share an exclusive focus on the disabled individual and his labour market integration. Recent developments in labour market studies show that a household perspective offers new insights in the relationship between employment outcomes and social inequality. In this paper we argue that the dominant focus on individual employment of the current models falls short in depicting the full picture. We apply the notion of household work intensity and apply a polarization index to examine the distribution of employment over households with disabled family members, using EU-SILC data for 2005–2009. We find that the success of disability-related employment policies depend to a large extent on which unit of interest, i.e., the disabled individual or the household, is taken into account. More jobless households exist than would be expected in the case employment was randomly distributed. This reveals that the low employment rates of disabled household members only partially explain the low household work intensity. Shared socio-demographic traits have a mixed effect in explaining the excess joblessness. A more complex framework is therefore needed to account for household level mechanisms that influence household work intensity in families with disabled members.

Building and Interpreting Macro/Micro Estimates of Accrued‐to‐Date Pension Liabilities: French Reforms as a Case Study

Estimates of accrued‐to‐date pension liabilities (ADL) should become more widely accessible to statisticians and decision makers in the near future, in application of new SNA requirements. This raises two questions: how can such estimates be routinely produced, and what for? Microsimulation helps in answering the first question of the “how.” It allows ADL computations that take into account the complexity of pension rules. Concerning the “what for” question, it is known that ADL are not an indicator of global financial sustainability. Messages they convey are more interesting at the micro level, from a household perspective. This fosters the case for microsimulation which spontaneously generates consistent micro/macro results. We illustrate these points using the French situation as a case study. We emphasize one aspect of French reforms that may concern other countries as well: the move to price indexation and the connection it creates between sustainability and growth assumptions.

A Conceptual Framework of the Adoption and Practice of Environmental Actions in Households

Securing public participation in environmental actions such as recycling, energy conservation measures and green consumerism is a means of progressing towards sustainable consumption. Participation in environmental actions (EAs) has typically been studied from the individual perspective, thus largely ignoring the social context of the household which may undermine effective behaviour change and green marketing strategies. This paper advances understanding of the adoption and practice of EAs from the household perspective by drawing together the limited and fragmented work which has examined EA participation from the household perspective, and integrating it with two relevant literatures—the household decision making literature and the literature which has examined EA participation from the individual perspective. The literatures are drawn together into a framework covering household member involvement in EA adoption and practice, the decision making process leading to EA adoption, decision making strategies and communication within the household, the maintenance of repetitive EAs, the factors influencing household member involvement including activity types and situational, household and individual characteristics, and how the individual characteristic of relative interest is shaped. We make a theoretical contribution by presenting a holistic understanding of the adoption and practice of EAs in households, which was previously lacking from the EA participation literature. By highlighting the elements of the conceptual framework that require further investigation, the authors also set out an agenda for research into EA participation from the household perspective.

Transcending Individual Approach of Consumption: an Investigation of Automobile Meanings by The Household Perspective

In consumer behavior area, families are identified as fundamental reference group in the consumption process. Historically, research involving purchasing dec...

Polarisation of Non-standard Employment in Europe: Exploring a Missing Piece of the Inequality Puzzle

The rise in non-standard employment inspired many scholars to study the social consequences of these new employment forms. Most research focusses on individuals working non-standard. With the increase in dual earnership, however, we need a household perspective. This study therefore develops the notion of household non-standard employment and applies a polarisation index to examine the distribution of non-standard work over dual earner couples. This polarisation index compares the actual rate of household non-standard employment with a counterfactual rate when non-standard employment would be randomly distributed over households. Drawing on EU-SILC 2011, we define non-standard workers as individuals who worked during the previous year, but not full-year full-time. The results indicate that the levels of polarisation vary considerably across countries. Because especially women do not work full-time, polarisation is highly negative since it is less likely to find clustering of non-standard work within households. This pattern is dominant in Continental European countries, but also observable in Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries. On the other hand, in Eastern and Southern European countries, non-standard employment is concentrated in some households, mainly because of the inability of its members to work full-year. Common characteristics of household members known to be associated with non-standard employment, like age and education, explain little of the levels of non-standard employment polarisation.

CAN INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS BE PROBLEMATIC? HONDURAN REMITTANCES AND LABOR SUPPLY DECISIONS

Declining work force participation rates are a potentially important public policy issue for governments in countries with large capital inflows. Here we consider remittances as both a household and individual characteristic to estimate the impact of this nonwage transfer on labor supply decisions in Honduras. Although an initial view suggests moderate reductions across the working‐age population, we find evidence of increased participation through a reallocation of labor time across work categories. Our inclusion of the individual nature of remittance reception suggests less emphasis on the unified household perspective is warranted. (JEL O15, O12, J29)

The economic burden of pneumonia and meningitis among children less than five years old in Hanoi, Vietnam.

To estimate the average treatment costs of pneumonia and meningitis among children under five years of age in a tertiary hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam from societal, health sector and household perspectives. We used a cost-of-illness approach to identify cost categories to be included for different perspectives. A prospective survey was conducted among eligible patients to get detailed personal costing items. From the perspective of the health sector, the mean costs for treating a case of pneumonia and meningitis were USD 180 and USD 300, respectively. From the household's perspective, the average treatment costs were USD 272 for pneumonia and USD 534 for meningitis. When also including indirect costs, the average total treatment costs from the societal perspective were USD 318 for pneumonia and USD 727 for meningitis. The study contributed to limited evidence on the high treatment costs of pneumonia and meningitis to the Vietnamese society, which is useful for a cost-effectiveness analysis of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine or other relevant disease preventions. It also indicated a need to re-evaluate the health insurance policy for children under 6 years old, so that the unnecessarily high out-of-pocket costs of these diseases are reduced.

A study on undocumented migrant workers in the Dutch household sector

Purpose – Migration waves have a significant impact on cultural diversity. But in various sections of the economy the authors observe large numbers of unregistered workers. The purpose of this paper is to map out the socio-economic situation of unregistered migrant workers and aims to identify the drivers of their labour market position in terms of job opportunities and salary. The specific focus of this study will be on undocumented immigrant workers involved in the domestic work (or household) sector in the Netherlands. Design/methodology/approach – This paper offers empirical evidence on two levels: the individual level (migrant domestic workers), and the household level (from an employer perspective). Findings – The paper finds that years of work experience and social network participation – in particular, family relationships and a combination of friends with employer relationships – increases the chances of finding a higher paid irregular job. From a household perspective, there appears to be a posi...