Increased Household Expenditure Research Articles

Analyzing poverty levels and welfare: Does cigarette consumption and spending on regional functions have an impact?

In numerous developing nations, the impact of cigarette consumption on poverty often goes unnoticed by policymakers. This study endeavours to explore the correlation between household expenditure on cigarettes and levels of poverty and welfare. Beyond household spending, it also investigates the influence of regional functional expenditures and the prevalence of open unemployment on poverty and welfare. The examination encompasses 100 regencies and cities across three provinces: East Java (38 regencies and cities), West Java (27 regencies and cities), and Central Java (35 regencies and cities). Utilizing secondary data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, collected in 2021, employing a cross-sectional approach, this study employs multiple linear regression analysis via the Stata 17 program to discern the impact of various factors, including household spending, regional functional spending, and control variables, on poverty and welfare. The findings reveal that household cigarette consumption significantly exacerbates poverty, indicating that an increase in such consumption escalates poverty rates. Conversely, the second estimation model demonstrates that increased household expenditure on cigarettes significantly diminishes welfare levels, underscoring the adverse impact of heightened smoking consumption on overall welfare.

Role of Microfinance in poverty alleviation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan (Case Study of District Karak)

This study investigates whether microfinance alleviates poverty in District Karak of KPK. The population of the study is all southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the sample of the study is district Karak of KPK. The study selected 150 respondents from District Karak who had already availed of micro-credit facility and 5 staff members from the microfinance institutions. Both primary and secondary data have been used for this study, primary data was gathered through direct personal interviews and questionnaires while secondary data was collected through newsletters and published magazines. Ms. Excel and SPSS software has been used while analyzing the data. After analysis, it was found that Microfinance plays an important role to alleviate poverty by increasing household expenditure, and the income of the beneficiaries. Despite the significance of Microfinance, people are also facing some challenges like high interest rates and collateral from microfinance Institutions. Similarly, Micro fiancé institutions also face some challenges like loan recovery and most of the clients become the default. This research study concluded that microfinance has great importance to reduce poverty but needs to redesign the financial policies of the institution so that creditors don’t feel fear to pay the huge penalty in case of delay in payment.

The welfare impact of improved seed variety adoption in Ghana

Despite government support to boost domestic production, tomato consumption in Ghana is heavily dependent on imports. Improved tomato seed varieties (ITSV) are considered inputs to increase productivity, but their contribution to household welfare is quite unknown. We examined the impact of ITSV adoption on household welfare in three agro-ecological zones of Ghana. Primary data was collected from a random sample of 508 tomato farmers using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study corrected for endogeneity bias in farmer adoption decisions using the multinomial endogenous switching regression model. The results show that the farmers' adoption of the improved varieties (Pectomech, Power Roma or both) was high and significantly influenced by sex, farm income, extension contact, credit access, perception of varietal characteristics (mainly yield), and farmers' residence in FSTZ, compared with the local variety (“Techiman”). Regarding household welfare, the adoption of Pectomech, Power Roma or both increased household expenditure and assets. Additionally, farmers gained more income by adopting Pectomech and both Pectomech and Power Roma. The findings suggest the need for research institutions like CSIR and the universities to step up the production of improved seed varieties with high-yielding capabilities and tolerance to pest, spoilage, and bad weather, while government and NGOs assist to increase farmers’ access to credit and extension services. The conceptual framework for the study is presented in Fig 3.4. Smyth (2004) defined a conceptual framework as a deep thinking or conceptualization of the processes or linkages or systems that can be used to simplify the understanding of a particular study. A conceptual framework tries to explain the linkages that exist among various concepts or variables used in the study. It starts from an inductive viewpoint to a deductive or from a simple to complex model below.

Association Between Changes in Family Life Due to COVID-19 and Depressive Mood and Stress Perception.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new infectious disease that has had a significant impact on daily life. This study investigated the effect of changes in family life due to COVID-19 on depressive mood and stress perception. We used data from the "Survey on changes in family life due to COVID-19" in Korea. The final study population comprised 1500 adults with children aged ≤19 years. Of the total respondents, 59.3% responded that depressive mood and stress had increased due to COVID-19. However, among them, 46.6% did not attempt to resolve or could not find a way to resolve their depressive mood and stress. In multiple logistic regression analyses, a decrease in household income and increased household expenditure due to COVID-19 were significantly associated with an increased risk of depressive mood and stress perception. Depressive mood and stress were significantly higher in respondents who had experienced family conflicts. These results could be used to assess changes in family life and manage mental health when a new infectious disease occurs. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the long-term effects of changes in family life due to COVID-19 on mental health.

Would Household Medical Expenditure Affect Chinese Citizens to Have More Children?

This research investigates how household medical expenditure affects Chinese citizens having more children. We examined the causal relationship and found a negative influence of household medical expenditure on the willingness to have more children, confirming that increasing household expenditure on medical care may specifically decrease the high willingness. Chinese policymakers should adopt appropriate and effective strategies to mitigate the potential negative effects of household medical expenditure on the birthrate. These analyses emphasize the importance of promoting economic growth, increasing public health expenditure, and increasing medical security in the context of population imbalance and the trend of a rapidly aging society in order to encourage people to have more children, thereby slowing population decline.

Transformation of Community Behavior to Avoid Covid-19 Pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) has categorized the coronavirus (Covid-19) as a pandemic, and the Government of Indonesia categorizes the Covid-19 Pandemic as a national disaster. The aforementioned statements show that this virus can attack anyone and any country in the world, and has become a non-natural national disaster in Indonesia. Covid-19 pandemic is very dangerous and can threaten various aspects of people's lives, such as education, health, social, cultural, economic, psychological, and community worship activities. This study aimed to examine the transformation of changes in socio-cultural behavior of the community to avoid Covid-19 transmission by complying with the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (LSSR) policy. This research used descriptive qualitative and interpretive methods through observation, participation action research, and in-depth interviews with informants. The results showed that the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (LSSR) policy to break the chain of transmission of the Covid-19 outbreak had resulted in the transformation of changes in socio-cultural behavior towards healthy behavior. The transformation of changes in socio-cultural behavior in accordance with the LSSR policy is carried out quickly, simultaneously, fundamentally, and radically so that it can be said that there has been a revolutionary transformation of behavior. Changes in community behavior occur in the implementation of 11 components of the LSSR policy, namely, working at home, studying at home, worshiping at home, delaying meetings with many people, not visiting sick people, restricting outsiders from entering another area, delaying Eid (Eid) homecoming, limiting transportation modes, wearing masks washing hands with soap, and spraying disinfectants. The implementation of the LSSR policy by the community has had both positive and negative impacts. Positive impacts include the growth of warm communication within the family, the growth of academic culture in the family, the growth of healthy behavior in the community, and the increased use of Information Technology (WA, telephone, FB, IG, Twitter, zoom, etc.). While the negative impacts include: decreasing friendship and peer socialization, decreasing the degree of kinship, decreasing the liveliness of Idul Fithri, increasing household expenditure, and decreasing community economic and social activities.

Determinants of household catastrophic costs for drug sensitive tuberculosis patients in Kenya

BackgroundDespite free diagnosis and treatment for tuberculosis (TB), the costs during treatment impose a significant financial burden on patients and their households. The study sought to identify the determinants for catastrophic costs among patients with drug-sensitive TB (DSTB) and their households in Kenya.MethodsThe data was collected during the 2017 Kenya national patient cost survey from a nationally representative sample (n = 1071). Treatment related costs and productivity losses were estimated. Total costs exceeding 20% of household income were defined as catastrophic and used as the outcome. Multivariable Poisson regression analysis was performed to measure the association between selected individual, household and disease characteristics and occurrence of catastrophic costs. A deterministic sensitivity analysis was carried using different thresholds and the significant predictors were explored.ResultsThe proportion of catastrophic costs among DSTB patients was 27% (n = 294). Patients with catastrophic costs had higher median productivity losses, 39 h [interquartile range (IQR): 20–104], and total median costs of USD 567 (IQR: 299–1144). The incidence of catastrophic costs had a dose response with household expenditure. The poorest quintile was 6.2 times [95% confidence intervals (CI): 4.0–9.7] more likely to incur catastrophic costs compared to the richest. The prevalence of catastrophic costs decreased with increasing household expenditure quintiles (proportion of catastrophic costs: 59.7%, 32.9%, 23.6%, 15.9%, and 9.5%) from the lowest quintile (Q1) to the highest quintile (Q5). Other determinants included hospitalization: prevalence ratio (PR) = 2.8 (95% CI: 1.8–4.5) and delayed treatment: PR = 1.5 (95% CI: 1.3–1.7). Protective factors included receiving care at a public health facility: PR = 0.8 (95% CI: 0.6–1.0), and a higher body mass index (BMI): PR = 0.97 (95% CI: 0.96–0.98). Pre TB expenditure, hospitalization and BMI were significant predictors in all sensitivity analysis scenarios.ConclusionsThere are significant inequities in the occurrence of catastrophic costs. Social protection interventions in addition to existing medical and public health interventions are important to implement for patients most at risk of incurring catastrophic costs.Graphic abstract

Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on horticultural farming in Tanah Datar Regency of West Sumatra Province, Indonesia

The COVID-19 outbreak affects almost all sectors of farmers’ life. The lockdown policy has resulted in limited movement of farmers in carrying out social and economic activities. This study aims to identify those difficulties for horticultural farmers’ households during the COVID-19 outbreak and analyze its impact on household income. We had carried out an online household survey, for data collection by interviewing 86 horticulture farmers, who were randomly sampled in two horticulture production centers in Tanah Datar District. We found that almost 50% of farmers are having difficulty accessing agricultural inputs during the pandemic, such as seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. This happened because of implementing a lockdown policy., which disrupts farmers’ smooth access to farm inputs. However, although almost half of the farmers have difficulty accessing farm inputs, the regression results show that the COVID-19 outbreak does not significantly affect household income. Based on our research, 96.5% of farmers were still farming and 55.8% of them were still working in the fields as usual. The difficulty for horticultural farmer’s households during the Covid-19 outbreak was increasing household expenditure such as for communication, health, education, and social/religion. They have to use household savings to overcome.

Regression Application On The Farmers‘ Household Consumption Expenditure Model

Every household tries to maximize utility in consuming goods and services with price and income levels as constraints. Household consumption expenditure comes from food and non-food items. Research conducted in Makassar City aims to determine the differences in farmers' household consumption expenditure on food, non-food, and food + non-food and estimate the factors that influence them. The research method used is descriptive and explanatory. They were based on the time dimension, using cross-section data from primary data with a sample of 327 respondents consisting of 165 farmers and 162 female farmers. The findings show that household food expenditure of farmers is smaller than non-food expenditure. The opposite result occurs in the household expenditure of farmers women. Household income, wife's formal education, household size, regional differences, and gender were influence changes in household consumption expenditure from food, non-food, and food + non-food. Increasing household income supported by balanced nutrition education will avoid food insecurity, increasing household expenditure.

Quantification and characterization of the municipal solid waste for sustainable waste management in newly formed municipalities of Nepal.

This study was conducted to set up a new reference line for municipal solid waste quantification and characterization in the least urbanized cities of a developing nation. A survey was run to collect baseline data from 60 new municipalities of Nepal. The study covered a sample size of 3300 households, 600 institutions and 600 commercial establishments in those municipalities. The municipalities were further stratified according to geographical location, the degree of urbanization, household expenditure and population size to assess the influence on waste generation. The results indicated that the average per capita household waste generation is 115 g day-1 while the average total municipal waste generation was estimated to be 180 g day-1 per capita.The study also revealed that size of municipal population, geographic location, household expenditure and degree of urbanization were found to have a significant influence on the unit waste generation. The larger the size of municipal population the higher the per capita household waste generation, degree of urbanization and per capita waste production. Increasing household expenditure revealed an increase in the unit waste generation. The waste categories included organic waste, plastics, paper and paper products, textiles, rubber and leather, metals, glass, and others. The results indicated that organic waste dominated the characterization (62%), followed by plastics (12%) and paper/paper products (11%).

Poverty Conditions and Patterns of Consumption: An Engel Function Analysis in East Java and Bali, Indonesia

This paper aims to analyze consumption patterns of various household goods. The data used in this study was sourced from results of household surveys in the East Java and Bali Provinces in Indonesia. The analytical model used to evaluate household consumption patterns was the Engel function. Engel's function model maps the level of consumption to household income. In this study, the explanatory variables used include household expenditure levels, household characteristics and household poverty conditions. The results showed that the consumption of staple foodstuffs was relatively inelastic in terms of an increasing household expenditure. Moreover, the consumption of processed food is relatively more elastic in terms of expenditure. The study also found that poor households have a different consumption pattern in comparison to non-poor households. Poor households allocate less income to basic necessities that are important for health, such as vegetables, meat and fish. The implication is that government assistance for poor households must be accompanied by education on healthy consumption patterns.

Indoor Air Pollution and Concerned Health Costs in Indian Context

Clean air is considered the fountain of life that enables humankind to sustain healthy lives while supporting unique ecosystems of the Earth. The United Nations, being the supreme policymaking body in the world, has duly stated that “clean air is a human right”. The underlying reason for this derives itself from gruesome statistics asserting that between 6 and 7 million people die prematurely each year due to air pollution, and around 90% of the global pollution breathes polluted air. Being the existential threat pollution is, most of it is caused by burning of fossil fuels that contributes not only to climate change but also deteriorating human health. A significant portion of air pollution is constituted by indoor air pollution through carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which has been a major cause of concern for India. It has been observed that 9 out of 10 people in India breathe air that breached safe limits and 7 million people die each year due to household air pollution through exposure to fine particles causing cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer and other pulmonary diseases. Women form a significant portion of such sufferers, whereby, a WHO report has found that mothers were more likely to deliver underweight babies in households with indoor air pollution from solid fuels. Associated with this, is the issue of increasing household expenditure on health vis-à-vis women. This paper examines the impact of such indoor pollution on women vis-à-vis health costs as part of their household expenditure allocations. Observations emphasise the need to reverse such trend of increasing indoor air pollution while moving on to a phase of employing greener fuels and technologies among households, and associated sensitive policymaking. This is expected to not only increase the standard of health among women of different strata but also will propel the productivity of human capital on a per capita basis.

Vulnerability to motor fuel price increases: Socio-spatial patterns in England

In high-motorisation, car-dependent countries, transport affordability is intimately linked to the price of oil derived motor fuels, which may become increasingly volatile in the future due to global oil price movements and environmental taxation. The negative impacts of fuel price spikes in terms of increased household expenditure and economic stress are unevenly spatially and socially distributed. Previous research has found that vulnerability to fuel price increases is higher in peripheral, peri-urban and rural areas, and that low income tends to be co-located with high car dependence and low vehicle fuel efficiency, with a compounding effect on vulnerability. The goal of this article is to test these hypotheses for England, providing new evidence on spatial patterns of vulnerability to fuel price increases at the small-area level. We propose a composite vulnerability indicator combining data on income, accessibility, vehicle inspection and vehicle registration for 2011. Within English city-regions, we find little evidence of the socially regressive patterns previously identified in the literature. This is explained by the persistent concentration of poverty in urban cores, as well as by the poor fuel economy of the vehicle fleet in wealthier areas, due to the prevalence of powerful vehicles there. On the other hand, our analysis suggests that the impacts of fuel price increases would be very unequal between city-regions, as the least sensitive metropolitan area (Greater London) is also characterised by high levels of adaptive capacity. We conclude by setting out an agenda for future research on spatial vulnerability to fuel price increases.

Impacts of Large Scale Foreign Land Acquisitions on Rural Households: Evidence from Ethiopia

The impact of large-scale foreign land acquisitions (“landgrabs”) on rural households in developing countries has proven a highly contentious question in public discourse. Similarly, in the academic literature, evolutionary theories of property rights and enclosure models make diametrically opposed predictions about the impacts on holders of informal property rights of increased demand for land. The current paper uses a multi-method approach to provide much-needed empirical evidence on the impacts of large-scale land acquisitions in Ethiopia. We use basic economic theory to structure evidence from disparate sources, including: a survey of existing qualitative evidence; original legal analysis of specific foreign land-acquisition contracts; and original econometric analysis of new World Bank household survey data. The evidence from all three methods suggests large-scale foreign land acquisitions are associated with losses of land and resource rights for rural households. While there is some compensating evidence of increased household expenditure, it is difficult to say whether this increase is caused by growth in incomes or in implicit prices.

Effect on child cognitive function of increasing household expenditure in Indonesia: application of a marginal structural model and simulation of a cash transfer programme.

Parental investments in children are an important determinant of human capability formation. We investigated the causal effect of household expenditure on Indonesian children's cognitive function between 2000 and 2007. We also investigated the effect of change in mean cognitive function from a simulation of a hypothetical cash transfer intervention. A longitudinal analysis using data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) was conducted including 6136 children aged 7 to 14 years in 2000 and still alive in 2007. We used the inverse probability of treatment weighting of a marginal structural model to estimate the causal effect of household expenditure on children's cognitive function. Cumulative household expenditure was positively associated with cognitive function z-score. From the marginal structural model, a 74534 rupiah/month (about US$9) increase in household expenditure resulted in a 0.03 increase in cognitive function z-score [β=0.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.30-0.35] Based on our simulations, among children in the poorest households in 2000 an additional ≈ US$6-10 of cash transfer resulted in a 0.01 unit increase in cognitive function z-score, equivalent to about 6% increase from the mean z-score prior to cash transfer. In contrast, children in the poorest household in 2007 did not benefit from an additional ≈ US$10 cash transfer. We found no overall effect of cash transfers at the total population level. Greater household expenditure had a small causal effect on children's cognitive function. Although cash transfer interventions had a positive effect for poor children, this effect was quite small. Multi-faceted interventions that combine nutrition, cash transfer, improved living conditions and women's education are required to benefit children's cognitive development in Indonesia.

Changes in Food Consumption Pattern of Households in Romania in the Period 2004-2011

According to data from the Household Budget Survey, the average daily food consumption per person was about 2500 kcal in the last decade, with an increasing trend in the share of animal calories from 530 kcal in the early 2000 to over 600 kcal in the late years. The analysis of different caloric food groups highlights the fact that cereals and cereal products provide a significant part of population energy needs. Compared to 2004, the intake of meat and meat products increased, indicating the convergence to the model of developed countries. Average daily food consumption expressed in calories differs depending on household size, number of children and amount of revenue. Increasing household expenditure for food in 2011, accounting for 44.9% of total consumption expenditure, mark the end of a long period with gradual diminution in the share of food in household budget. The economic growth in the period 2004-2008, on the other hand, was reflected in income and consumption, leading to a relative decrease in food consumption expenditures, i.e. a diminution of the share of these expenditures, the evolution model of developed countries.

Beyond antimalarial stock-outs: implications of health provider compliance on out-of-pocket expenditure during care-seeking for fever in South East Tanzania.

BackgroundTo better understand how stock-outs of the first line antimalarial, Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) and other non-compliant health worker behaviour, influence household expenditures during care-seeking for fever in the Ulanga District in Tanzania.MethodsWe combined weekly ACT stock data for the period 2009-2011 from six health facilities in the Ulanga District in Tanzania, together with household data from 333 respondents on the cost of fever care-seeking in Ulanga during the same time period to establish how health seeking behaviour and expenditure might vary depending on ACT availability in their nearest health facility.ResultsIrrespective of ACT stock-outs, more than half (58%) of respondents sought initial care in the public sector, the remainder seeking care in the private sector where expenditure was higher by 19%. Over half (54%) of respondents who went to the public sector reported incidences of non-compliant behaviour by the attending health worker (e.g. charging those who were eligible for free service or referring patients to the private sector despite ACT stock), which increased household expenditure per fever episode from USD0.14 to USD1.76. ACT stock-outs were considered to be the result of non-compliant behaviour of others in the health system and increased household expenditure by 21%; however we lacked sufficient statistical power to confirm this finding.ConclusionSystem design and governance challenges in the Tanzanian health system have resulted in numerous ACT stock-outs and frequent non-compliant public sector health worker behaviour, both of which increase out-of-pocket health expenditure. Interventions are urgently needed to ensure a stable supply of ACT in the public sector and increase health worker accountability.

Does Community Driven Development Work? Evidence from Senegal

This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled Does community driven development work? Evidence from Senegal, conducted between 2003 and 2005, in Senegal. The study observed that using a variety of estimation procedures, including instrumental variables, and working at different levels of aggregation, we find statistically significant and quantitatively important effects of the program on access by villagers to clean water and health services, as well as on standard measures of child malnutrition. The program increases per capita household expenditures by 65 percent. The program significantly improves access to clean water and health facilities. The program also significantly reduces the prevalence of underweight and stunted children and significantly increased household expenditure per capita and nutrition of children. The number of female villagers on the council is increasing with the likelihood of a village receiving a completed project. Funding for the study derived from the World Bank.

The evaluation of family impact of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa using the Italian version of the Family Dermatology Life Quality Index

Severe skin diseases, such as epidermolysis bullosa (EB), may have a strong impact not only on patients but also on caregivers. A specific questionnaire evaluating the family impact of dermatological conditions has been created, the Family Dermatology Life Quality Index (FDLQI), but it has not yet been translated in Italian and validated. To evaluate the burden of recessive dystrophic EB on family caregivers, using for the first time the Italian version of the FDLQI, and to validate the instrument. Patients with recessive dystrophic EB participated in a postal survey enquiring about the burden of EB on family caregivers. They completed the Family Strain Questionnaire and the FDLQI and they marked on a silhouette of the human body the skin lesion distribution. Data on 62 family caregivers were collected. The overall mean FDLQI score was 9.8. The most frequently reported problems were the time spent on looking after the patient, emotional distress, physical well-being, and increased household expenditure. FDLQI scores were higher in family caregivers of patients between 10 and 20 years. The Italian FDLQI showed high internal consistency, construct and convergent validity. Factor analysis revealed the presence of one factor structure underlying the items of the FDLQI, which explained 51.5% of the total variance, very similar to the original questionnaire (55.8%). The Italian version of the FDLQI seems to be a useful tool to evaluate the impact of EB on family caregivers. Further studies are necessary to test this instrument in other dermatological conditions.