Levels Of Household Wealth Research Articles

Association of Maternal and Child Health Center (Posyandu) Availability with Child Weight Status in Indonesia: A National Study.

Little is known about the childhood obesity prevention and treatment practices of Maternal and Child Health services (Posyandu) in Indonesia or in other countries. The present study aims to assess the association of the availability of Posyandu with overweight and obesity in children of different household wealth levels. This was a secondary analysis of data collected in the 2013 Riskesdas (or Basic Health Research) survey, a cross-sectional study, representative population-based data. Height and weight, the availability of Posyandu, and basic characteristics of the study population were collected from parents with children aged 0 to 5 years (n = 63,237). Non-availability of Posyandu significantly raised the odds of being obese (OR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.06–1.21) and did not show a significant relationship in the odds for overweight (OR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.93–1.07). This relationship persisted after a full adjustment (OR = 1.16, 95% CI: 1.07–1.25 and OR = 1.04, 95% CI: 0.96–1.13, respectively). There was effect modification by household wealth, which was stronger for obese children. The availability of Posyandu has a protective association with childhood obesity in Indonesia. Posyandu services are well placed to play an important role in obesity prevention and treatment in early life.

Spousal labor market effects from government health insurance: Evidence from a veterans affairs expansion

Measuring the total impact of health insurance receipt on household labor supply is important in an era of increased access to publicly provided and subsidized insurance. Although government expansion of health insurance to older workers leads to direct labor supply reductions for recipients, there may be spillover effects on the labor supply of uncovered spouses. While the most basic model predicts a decrease in overall household work hours, financial incentives such as credit constraints, target income levels, and the need for own health insurance suggest that spousal labor supply might increase. In contrast, complementarities of spousal leisure would predict a decrease in labor supply for both spouses. Utilizing a mid-1990s expansion of health insurance for U.S. veterans, we provide evidence on the effects of public insurance availability on the labor supply of spouses. Using data from the Current Population Survey and Health and Retirement Study, we employ a difference-in-differences strategy to compare the labor market behavior of the wives of older male veterans and non-veterans before and after the VA health benefits expansion. Although husbands’ labor supply decreases, wives’ labor supply increases, suggesting that financial incentives dominate complementarities of spousal leisure. This effect is strongest for wives with lower education levels and lower levels of household wealth and those who were not previously employed full-time. These findings have implications for government programs such as Medicare and Social Security and the Affordable Care Act.

Associations Between Orphan and Vulnerable Child Caregiving, Household Wealth Disparities, and Women's Overweight Status in Three Southern African Countries Participating in Demographic Health Surveys.

This study examines whether orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) primary caregivers are facing absolute household wealth (AWI) disparities, the association between AWI and women's overweight status, and the modifying role of OVC primary caregiving status on this relationship. Demographic Health Surveys data (2006-2007) from 20 to 49 year old women in Namibia (n = 6,305), Swaziland (n = 2,786), and Zambia (n = 4,389) were analyzed using weighted marginal means and logistic regressions. OVC primary caregivers in Namibia and Swaziland had a lower mean AWI than other women in the same country. In Zambia, OVC primary caregivers had a lower mean AWI score than non-primary caregivers living with an OVC but a higher mean AWI score than non-OVC primary caregivers. In Swaziland and Zambia, even small increases in household wealth were associated with higher odds for being overweight regardless of women's caregiving status. Only in Namibia, OVC primary caregiving modified the effect of the previous association. Among Namibian OVC primary caregivers, women who had at least medium household wealth (4 or more AWI items) were more likely to be overweight than their poorest counterparts (0 or 1 AWI items). OVC primary caregivers are facing household wealth disparities as compared to other women from their communities. Future studies/interventions should consider using population-based approaches to reach women from every household wealth level to curb overweight in Swaziland and Zambia and to focus on specific household wealth characteristics that are associated with OVC primary caregivers' overweight status in Namibia.

Spousal Labor Market Effects from Government Health Insurance: Evidence from a Veterans Affairs Expansion

Measuring the overall impact of public health insurance receipt is important in an era of increased access to publicly-provided and subsidized insurance. Although government expansion of health insurance to older workers leads to labor supply reductions for recipients, there may be spillover effects on the labor supply of uncovered spouses. While theory predicts a decrease in overall household work hours, financial incentives such as credit constraints, target income levels, and the need for own health insurance suggest that spousal labor supply might increase. In contrast, complementarities of spousal leisure would predict a decrease in labor supply for both spouses. Utilizing a mid-1990s expansion of health insurance for U.S. veterans, we provide evidence on the effects of public insurance availability on the labor supply of spouses. Using data from the Current Population Survey and Health and Retirement Study, we employ a difference-in-differences strategy to compare the labor market behavior of the wives of older male veterans and non-veterans before and after the VA health benefits expansion. Our findings suggest that although household labor supply may decrease because of the income effect, wives' labor supply increases, suggesting that financial incentives dominate complementarities of spousal leisure. This effect is strongest for wives with lower education levels and lower levels of household wealth. Moreover, wives with employer-provided health insurance in the previous year remain on the job while those without increase their hours, suggesting incentives to retain or obtain health insurance. Finally, non-working wives enter the labor force, those who were working part-time increase their hours, and full-time career women are largely unaffected.

Perceived age discrimination in older adults

Objectives: to examine perceived age discrimination in a large representative sample of older adults in England.Methods: this cross-sectional study of over 7,500 individuals used data from the fifth wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a longitudinal cohort study of men and women aged 52 years and older in England. Wave 5 asked respondents about the frequency of five everyday discriminatory situations. Participants who attributed any experiences of discrimination to their age were treated as cases of perceived age discrimination. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratios of experiencing perceived age discrimination in relation to selected sociodemographic factors.Results: approximately a third (33.3%) of all respondents experienced age discrimination, rising to 36.8% in those aged 65 and over. Perceived age discrimination was associated with older age, higher education, lower levels of household wealth and being retired or not in employment. The correlates of age discrimination across the five discriminatory situations were similar.Conclusion: understanding age discrimination is vital if we are to develop appropriate policies and to target future interventions effectively. These findings highlight the scale of the challenge of age discrimination for older adults in England and illustrate that those groups are particularly vulnerable to this form of discrimination.

Collaborative Research on Ageing in Europe project’s aims and main results

The FP7 Collaborative Research on Ageing in Europe project (COURAGE) (http://www.courageproject.eu) collected data on the determinants of health and disability in an ageing population, with specific tools for the evaluation of the role of built environment and social networks on health, disability, quality of life and well-being. The aims of the project were to develop a survey protocol for European studies on ageing and determinants of disability in ageing, demonstrating its reliability and validity, and to demonstrate substantial innovations in ageing survey methodology, providing a cross-population analysis and a baseline for European and international longitudinal data collection. The project’s fieldwork was conducted, from May 2011 to March 2012, on a sample of 10,800 persons from Finland, Poland and Spain. Mean age was 59.27 for Finland, 57.62 for Poland and 60.44 years for Spain. On the whole sample a trend of increase in functioning difficulties with age and with levels of household wealth was observed, with older subjects and those with lower wealth reporting more difficulties. Quality of life is perceived as better in Finland and in Spain than in Poland. The levels of quality of life decrease with the increase of age, and in Poland this decreasing is significantly higher. People from Finland showed the highest well-being, and those from Poland the lowest. Life evaluation worsened along the life span, whereas the affect tended to improve: positive affect increased and negative affect decreased in Finland and Spain. In Poland negative affect increased with age. Worse social networks are associated with higher age, while higher level of education is associated with better social networks. Furthermore, better levels of social networks are related with living in rural places, for the three countries. Reported good or very good health is associated with a better persons-environment interaction; people younger than 50 perceived their neighbourhood environment as more usable. Country-specific differences were found: in general, Polish respondents reported worse person-environment interactions, and Spanish better interactions. In the objective evaluation of built environment was found that environment was assessed as more facilitative in Spain than in Finland. In conclusion, the newly developed and validated COURAGE Protocol for Ageing Studies has proven to be a valid tool for collecting comparable data in ageing populations. The COURAGE Project created valid and reliable scientific evidence for disability and ageing research and policy development that showed cross-country comparability. It is therefore recommended that future studies exploring determinants of health and disability in ageing use COURAGE-derived methodology.

Economic Insecurity and Fertility Intentions: The Case of Italy

We aim to provide an explanation for the combination of the relatively low female participation rates and lowest‐low fertility levels in Italy. Starting from the assumption that childbearing decisions also depend on uncertainty about future employment, income, and wealth, we empirically assess how fertility intentions are affected by job instability, which may severely compromise the employment stability of workers, and economic disadvantages in terms of household income and wealth, which may imply insufficient means to deal with potential adverse future events, thereby generating in the household feelings of anxiety and economic insecurity. We show that the instability of women's work status (i.e., the holding of occasional and precarious jobs) significantly discourages the decision to attempt having a first child. Low levels of household wealth significantly and positively influence the decision to postpone attempting a first child. The chances of further childbirth are significantly and negatively influenced by household income insecurity.

Household Investment Decisions and Offspring Gender: Parental Accounting

Numerous behavioral factors have been identified as having an impact on household stockholding decisions. Given there is both theoretical and empirical evidence to support the premise that offspring gender can influence specific types of parental preferences, I test the theory that offspring gender has an effect on parental investment decision making. I find that offspring gender does influence household stock market participation. Specifically, I find that having only female offspring can significantly increase the probability of stockholding. Given stockholding can have large effects on household wealth levels and that family wealth levels affect intergenerational transfers, this finding could have important implications for understanding distributional welfare issues.

Intimate partner violence influence on deliveries assisted by skilled health personnel.

Objective:Millennium Development Goal 5 calls for increasing proportions of deliveries assisted by skilled health personnel to reduce maternal mortality. This study aims to identifying the implication of exposure to intimate partner violence on these proportions.Methodology:This study used domestic violence modules data of Demographic and Health Surveys of six countries from 2005 to 2007. Proportions of assisted deliveries were examined by sociodemographic characteristics and exposure to intimate partner violence in the studied countries. Influence on the proportion was examined against exposure to intimate partner violence through odds ratio and 95% of logistic regression analysis after controlling for women age, residence (urban/rural), household wealth level, economic level of country, educational level and working status of women and their husbands/partners.Results:Data sets of 18,507 participants over 20 years of age showed that almost three-quarters (73%) of women had deliveries assisted by skilled health personnel. One-third of the women were ever exposed to intimate partner violence (37%) and 9% of them to the severe level. Exposure to intimate partner violence statistically significantly lowered this proportion to 69% (odds ratio: 0.73; 95% confidence interval: 0.67–0.78) meanwhile severe violence lowered it to 65% (odds ratio 0.64; 95% confidence interval: 0.58–0.72). When running multiple regression analysis, exposure to intimate partner violence retained its statistically significant decreasing influence on proportions and was not biased by the other stronger socioeconomic characteristics.Conclusion and recommendations:Intimate partner violence has an independent influence on reducing assisted deliveries by skilled health personnel. Programs working for increasing proportions of assisted deliveries by skilled health personnel are recommended to integrate protection women from violence.

Economic Insecurity and Fertility Intentions: The Case of Italy

Starting from the assumption that economic insecurity is a key factor behind childbearing decisions, we empirically assess how fertility intentions are affected by job instability, which may severely compromise the employment status of workers, and economic disadvantages in terms of household income and wealth. We show that the instability of women’s work status (i.e. the holding of occasional and precarious jobs) significantly postpones maternity decisions for medium/high level income households; the chances of further childbirth are significantly and negatively affected by household income insecurity. Finally, low levels of household wealth influence the decision of having a first child.

Does Consumption Decline at Retirement? Evidence from Repeated Cross-Section Data for Germany

The life-cycle hypothesis implies that consumption would not decline at retirement. However, several studies found relevant declines in food consumption after retirement for the United States. Others concluded that this contradiction of the life-cycle hypothesis is solved by allowing for broader measures of consumption than food. Using repeated cross-section data for Germany, this paper analyzes the retirement consumption puzzle for the German case. For our broadest consumption measure, which includes the flow of durables' consumption, we find, on average, no significant consumption decline at retirement. This also holds if the potential endogeneity of individual retirement is controlled for in instrumental variable regressions. We also find heterogeneity in retirement effects among birth cohorts, the level of household wealth, and the level of consumption, but these effects do not support the hypothesis that retirement is associated with a strong reduction of consumption among poorer households.

What drives equity market non-participation?

This paper produces endogenous equity market non-participation in an economy with uninsurable labor income risk and heterogeneous skill levels. Prudence and impatience generate stationary household wealth levels that depend on income. Skill, and therefore labor income, heterogeneity leads to wealth heterogeneity, with high skill households accumulating high wealth and low skill households accumulating low wealth. A HARA class utility with subsistence consumption requirement generates decreasing RRA with respect to household wealth. Consequently, low skill households also have significantly higher local RRA. In addition low skill households have less human capital and therefore have lower diversification demand for stocks. Low wealth, high RRA and low diversification demand predicts that low skill households do not hold stocks in the face of a moderate ownership cost. In addition, the model predicts a humped lifecycle wealth accumulation pattern and a humped lifecycle stock allocation pattern. I also find that stockholders exhibit a greater aggregate willingness to supply risky capital during the expansion phase of a business cycle, despite the lower conditional equity premium.

Financial Constraints and Job Mobility in Australia*

This article examines the effect of financial constraints on job mobility in Australia. After specifying a simple job search model which shows that the effect of wealth on job mobility is theoretically unclear, empirical analysis is undertaken using the first six waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The analysis indicates that men under the age of 40 with low levels of household wealth, liquidity and financial satisfaction are significantly more likely to engage in job-job transitions. However, financial constraints have no significant impact on job mobility decisions for women or older men.

The relation between child work and the employment of mothers in India

PurposeThis paper aims to study the relation between the employment of mothers and the activities of children with the aim of contributing to the understanding of child work in India.Design/methodology/approachMultinomial logit specifications of children's activities and mothers' employment are estimated on survey data drawn from the National Family Health Survey 1998‐1999 for all India. The joint specification combines four states of children aged 6‐14 (studying, working in the market, working for the family or being inactive) with the employed/not employed status of mothers.FindingsThe results show that the mother's preferred choice is not working and sending children to school. This is especially true for more educated mothers. Also the father's education is positively (negatively) related to child schooling (work), but the effect is smaller as compared to that of mothers. All specifications yield the result that the probability of children working increases if their mothers work. Higher levels of household wealth play a fundamental role in lowering the risk of child work.Research limitations/implicationsThis empirical model does not take into account the unobserved heterogeneity of two types – namely, the residual correlation among the outcomes of mothers and children, and the residual correlation among children of the same mother.Practical implicationsThe evidence that children of employed mothers have a higher risk of working suggests that the problem may be related to the low quality and pay of jobs accessible to women in India, especially in rural areas. The policy indication would then be to improve the condition of women in the labour market and also to improve the welfare of their children.Originality/valueWhile women's and children's time allocation has been studied in separate settings, in this paper these two aspects are analysed together for the first time.

The effect of wealth and real income on wildlife consumption among native Amazonians in Bolivia: estimates of annual trends with longitudinal household data (2002–2006)

AbstractOver the last decades, native Amazonians have put increasing pressure on animal wildlife owing to growth in demand. Across societies, household monetary income and wealth shape food consumption; hence, so it is natural to ask what effect might these variables have on the demand for wildlife consumption among native Amazonians, particularly as they gain a stronger foothold in the market economy and increasing de jure stewardship over their territories. Prior estimates of the effects of household monetary income and household wealth on wildlife consumption among native Amazonians have relied on cross‐sectional data and produced unclear results. The goal of this research was to improve the precision of previous estimates by drawing on a larger sample and on longitudinal data. The analysis draws on a dataset composed of five consecutive annual surveys (2002–2006, inclusive) from 324 households in a native Amazonian society of foragers and farmers in Bolivia (Tsimane'). Multiple regression analysis is used to estimate the association between wildlife consumption and monetary income and wealth. Wildlife consumption bore a positive association with the level of household wealth and no significant association with household monetary income. Among Tsimane', the main internal threat to wildlife conservation in the short run will likely arise from increases in wealth, probably from the enhanced capacity that selected physical assets (e.g. guns) have in the capture of animal wildlife.

Financial Deregulation and Household Debt: The Australian Experience

Financial Deregulation and Household Debt: The Australian Experience

Household investment decisions and offspring gender: parental accounting

Numerous behavioural factors have been identified as having an impact on household stockholding decisions. Given there is both theoretical and empirical evidence to support the premise that offspring gender can influence specific types of parental preferences, I test the theory that offspring gender has an effect on parental investment decision-making. I find that offspring gender does influence household stock market participation. Specifically, I find that having only female offspring can significantly increase the probability of stockholding. Given stockholding can have large effects on household wealth levels and that family wealth levels affect intergenerational transfers, this finding could have important implications for understanding distributional welfare issues.

The response of Australian consumption to housing wealth

Large variations in house prices can lead to significant changes in the level of household wealth and this may affect household consumption. Using Lettau and Ludvigson’s [Lettau, M., Ludvigson, S.C., 2004. Understanding trend and cycle in asset values: reevaluating the wealth effect on consumption. American Economic Review 94, 276–299] cointegration approach, we investigate the response of non-housing consumption to permanent and transitory changes in financial and non-financial (housing) wealth in Australia since the mid-1970s. The data provide evidence that housing wealth contains a large transitory component, but up to 2004 at least, these transitory changes in wealth are not associated with any significant response in consumption. When post-2004 data are included in the estimation, there is some evidence that household consumption responds to recent transitory rises in wealth and labor income. However this finding needs to be weighed against weaker evidence of a cointegrating relationship for consumption, income and wealth.

Individual and environmental characteristics associated with immunization of children in rural areas in Burkina Faso: a multi-level analysis

National and international efforts to immunize children aim to remove barriers that hinder full vaccination programs and to reinforce factors promoting it. Despite Burkina Faso's participation in all international and sub-regional initiatives to protect mothers and children from vaccination-preventable communicable diseases, vaccination coverage there remains low and has grown irregularly, from 34.7% in 1993 to 29.3% in 1998 and 43.9% in 2003. The situation is even more critical in rural than in urban areas. To analyze the contribution of individual and environmental characteristics associated with vaccination of children aged 12-23 months in rural areas in Burkina Faso. Study population and methods. Data from the 1998 DHS (Demographic and Health Survey) and the 1997 Health Ministry Statistical Yearbook were used with a multi-level approach. Analysis distinguished two levels corresponding to the data's hierarchical structure: characteristics of children and their family's environment (level 1) and the health system and social environment (level 2). The study included 805 children aged 12 to 23 months, living in 44 health districts. The dependent variable was the child's vaccination status and is dichotomous (completely vaccinated or not). Completely vaccinated children are those who have received the BCG, the three doses of DTCoq, oral polio, measles and yellow fever vaccines, according to either their vaccination cards or their mothers' statement. The likelihood of vaccination increased with the level of household wealth (OR [well-off/poor]=1.88; [CI: 1.15-3.06] and was strongly associated with use of health services (OR [Prenatal care and assisted delivery/none of these services]=5.64; [CI: 3.16-10.05]). Nevertheless, these 2 variables did not alone explain the differences in vaccination observed between districts. More than 37% of the variation for vaccination completeness can be attributed to differences between health districts. Resources appear to play a minor role but a 1% increase in the proportion of educated women in the district increased the odds of complete vaccination by a factor of 1.14 [CI: 1.01-1.27]. Discussion. Despite universal access to free vaccination, children from poor households are less likely to receive all their vaccines than children from well-off households. This is probably due to indirect costs that stem from vaccination; the financial barrier remains one of the most significant factors preventing complete vaccination. Previous utilization of prenatal care and institutional delivery is more related to dynamics or even interaction between individuals and the health system. In addition to their direct effects, the interrelation between population and health systems may constitute a vaccination culture that may play a major role in explaining vaccination completeness. The resources of the health system bear little relation to vaccination. They are necessary but not sufficient for good health services. The organizational dynamic of health teams, the leadership of health district supervisors and staff motivation are key elements in these processes but were not measured in this study. Adding resources to vaccination programs is always a challenge for a number of national healthcare systems. It is not, however, the only key to success. The organization of healthcare systems and the contacts and relationships they establish with their populations appear to be determinant. The local vaccination culture that results from this interaction may be a key to explaining the variations observed between the different health districts.

The influence of economic development level, household wealth and maternal education on child health in the developing world

This study estimates the relative importance to child health (indicated by weight and height for age) of economic development level [gross domestic product (GDP) converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates: GDP-PPP], household wealth and maternal education and examines the modifying influence of national contexts on these estimates. It uses information collected from mothers aged 15–49-years participating in Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in 42 developing countries. In multilevel regression models, the three study variables exhibited strong independent associations with child health: GDP-PPP accounted for the largest amount of unique variation, followed by maternal education and household wealth. There was also substantial overlap (shared variance) between maternal education and the other two study variables. The regressions of child health on household wealth and maternal education exhibited substantial cross-national variation in both strength and form of association. Although higher education levels were associated with disproportionately greater returns to child health, the pattern for household wealth was erratic: in many countries there were diminishing returns to child health at higher levels of household wealth. We conclude that there are inextricable links among different strategies for improving child health and that policy planners, associating benefits with these strategies, must take into account the strong moderating impact of national context.