Living Standards Measurement Study Research Articles

A microsimulation study of COVID-19‘s impact on household welfare in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Our study aims to analyze and learn from the unanticipated economic shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine the ramifications of the pandemic on household well-being in Ethiopia, uncovering the layers of socio-economic impact through a rigorous microsimulation exercise. Drawing on robust data from the 2018/19 Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture, we assess the significant disruptions caused by the pandemic. Our findings reveal a 2 to 4 percentage point increase in the poverty rate within the first three months, driven largely by shifts in direct incomes and food prices. The analysis highlights differential impacts across rural and urban areas, as well as between male- and female-headed households. Moreover, the study underscores the vital role of social protection programs in mitigating the effects of such shocks.

Too rare to dare? Leveraging household surveys to boost research on climate migration

Abstract Nationally representative household surveys are a potential data source that could shed light on the climate–migration nexus. However, they are rarely designed specifically to measure or study migration and often lack the necessary features to identify connections with climate change. This paper offers a critical reflection on current challenges faced by multi-topic household surveys in responding to these needs while also highlighting the many opportunities embedded in their use. Using the Living Standards Measurement Study household survey programme of the World Bank as an example, this paper proposes a methodological agenda and practical guidance to address data gaps and advance research on climate migration.

Gender wage gap and child malnutrition in Ethiopia: A probit instrumental variable method

Objective: Child malnutrition is a widespread concern in Sub-Saharan Africa. Previous studies mainly focus on the association between women's employment status and child malnutrition, however, the aim of this study is to examine the causal effect of household gender wage gap on child malnutrition in Ethiopia.Methods: This study relies on a data set consisting of 2066 children under 5 years of age using 2018/19 Living Standards Measurement Study data for Ethiopia. A probit instrumental variable (IV) method is applied to determine the causal effect.Results: Persistent gender wage gap of approximately 35% has been observed across various sectors in Ethiopia. Estimated results show that the decrease in household gender wage gap significantly enhances child growth outcomes, especially for younger girls and children in households with limited access to market. Specifically, one percentage point increase in gender wage gap is associated with a 0.74% (p<0.05) increase in the probability of stunting and a 0.42% (p<0.05) increase in the likelihood of wasting. Three mechanisms have been identified as contributing factors: more allocation of health resources to children, improved dietary diversity in the household, and increased household income.Conclusions: Policy interventions aiming at improving the children nutrition status in Ethiopia are expected to narrow down gender wage inequality accordingly. Further research is needed to explore the association using reliable and large-scale data source in other countries.

Disability and its consequence on consumption: evidence from Ethiopian households

ABSTRACT This paper examines the prevalence of disability and its effect on non-health consumption using the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study two-year panel data consisting of 4954 Ethiopian households. The fixed effects model is estimated to analyze the impact of disability on consumption. The disability prevalence rate is as large as 26% of surveyed households. The results show that disability of any degree of severity in any of the six functional domains affects all non-health consumption items except for food while disability coming from a severe degree of difficulty has a larger adverse effect on household consumption of all items, implying both short-run and long-run effects. Comparatively, disability highly hits households from rural areas.

Input Subsidies and Women Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Tanzania

ABSTRACT In many parts of the world, women face barriers to accessing improved agricultural inputs. In Tanzania, a program called the National Agricultural Input Voucher Scheme (NAIVS) was implemented from 2008 to 2014 to provide smallholder farmers with vouchers to purchase inputs at a subsidized price, with the goal of improving productivity and increasing income and food security. Using data from the Tanzania Living Standards Measurement Study panel, we analyzed the effects of NAIVS on female-headed households’ market participation, sales, and profitability. The analysis showed that NAIVS increased market participation of female-headed households by 11%, particularly in downstream positions in domestic value chains. However, there were no discernible effects on sales and profitability, indicating that although the program reduced input costs, production costs remained high enough to offset the efficiency gains from the subsidized inputs.

Household information and communication technology usage and post-harvest losses in Nigeria

PurposePost-harvest losses are becoming a huge issue globally and predominantly severe in developing countries. Food losses decrease farm income by 15% for about 480m small-scale farming households. With technology adoption, particularly, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) usage, minimising post-harvest losses will be more effective, because of its ability to build households’ human development by bridging the information gap.Design/methodology/approachThis study empirically examines the impact of ICT usage on post-harvest losses in Nigeria, utilising Wave 4 (2018/2019) of the Living Standards Measurement Studies (LSMS), Integrated Survey on Agriculture (ISA). The study engages the Logit regression and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to analyse the data.FindingsThe findings show that post-harvest losses constitute about 38% of household agricultural production. In addition, it shows that the influence of ICT is statistically significant and positive in reducing post-harvest losses.Research limitations/implicationsIt implies that access to mobile phones and the Internet by households helps in developing their human capital through information access, for example, by linking them to the market and enhancing value chain participation. In addition, the implication is that mobile phone and Internet access contribute 1.87% and 2.68%, respectively, to reducing post-harvest losses. The findings suggest that there is a need for the government to improve support mechanisms for ICT usage among farming households.Social implicationsThe study contributes to the society by examining how the well-being of farmers can be improved upon in order to increase their productivity.Originality/valueThe study on the contribution of ICT to post-harvest losses is relatively sparse in the extant literature. Therefore, this study is among the very few to empirically examine the impact of different ICT indicators, using the LSMS-ISA (2019) data and engaging propensity matching, while focusing on the household heads.

Climate change in Tigray, Ethiopia: Assessing impacts on smallholders’ risk perception and food security

Amidst the ongoing global climate change crisis, characterized by unpredictable weather patterns and increasing environmental shocks, farming communities are among the most vulnerable. This vulnerability is particularly evident in Tigray, Ethiopia. This study, which investigates the incidence of climate change and its variability in relation to risk perception and food security of farming communities in Tigray, has significant implications for future action. It uses climate and the Living Standards Measurement Study panel data. A multi-method analytical procedure is employed to assess changes in temperature and rainfall, understand farmers’ climate change risk perception, and signify the welfare effects of droughts on farmers. The study finds significant warming trends, particularly increasing warming nights, and variable but increasing rainfall trends. Farmers do perceive climate change as a reality (85.53%) and a threat to their welfare (23%). Cooperation, diversification, irrigation, wealth, drought, and access to services were identified as drivers of this risk perception. Similarly, the study found drought is a significant driver of food insecurity. Other variables associated with food security status substantially are wealth, head marital status, and non-farm participation. It concludes that climate change is a reality and a perceived risk in Tigray. It poses a threat to the lives and livelihoods of its farming communities. It is recommended that farm households’ adaptive capacity be enhanced through improved livelihood options, promotion of cooperation, development of irrigation schemes, and increased access to weather and climate information.

Effects of food price changes on child undernutrition among agricultural households in Nigeria

This study examines the effects of changing food prices on the nutritional outcomes of children under five years old in Nigeria, utilising data from the 2013 and 2016 Nigeria Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). We applied correlated random-effects probit and fixed-effects regression models to analyse the data. Results indicate an increase in stunting and decreases in wasting and underweight conditions among children over the years studied. Specifically, higher prices for fish, eggs, beef, rice, and cooking oil have a significant association with increased stunting, while increases in the prices of maize and garri are associated with greater wasting. Underweight increase with higher prices of milk, maize, and rice. In contrast, modest increases in yam and beans prices have not exacerbated undernutrition. The study also highlights the importance of household income growth and women's involvement in financial decisions in reducing child undernutrition. We advocate for agriculture-led, nutrition-sensitive policies that address the high costs of animal proteins and staples such as rice, maize, and garri, while monitoring and carefully regulating upticks in the prices of yam and beans.

Participation of farmers in market value chains: A tailored Antràs and Chor positioning indicator

This study presents a micro-level indicator of farmers’ positioning in the market chain, based on the conceptual framework outlined by Antràs and Chor (2013, 2018). The indicator considers the selling location of a farming household and its crop buyers. Using panel data from the World Bank’s ‘Living Standards Measurement Study: Integrated Surveys on Agriculture’ for Ethiopia and Nigeria, this paper applies the proposed indicator empirically and showcases its superior performance in comparison to existing alternatives at the micro-level. Furthermore, by analyzing the dynamics of farmers’ food and total consumption over time and controlling for various household and production characteristics, as well as potential confounding factors, this study shows that moving towards a downstream position in the market chain has a positive impact on farmers’ food and total consumption levels. The results are validated through sensitivity analysis and robustness checks.

COVID-19 induced shocks and its implications for human capital development

BackgroundCOVID-19 has delivered an enormous shock to the global economy, triggering the deepest recession in eight decades, almost three times as deep as the 2009 global recession. Of all the nations in Africa, Nigeria remains one of the nations with a huge and significant impact on the human capital.MethodsHence, here we employed the recent nationally representative data from Nigeria - the COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey 2020-World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study Integrated Agriculture Survey (LSMS-ISA), a harmonized dataset to explore how the COVID-19 induced shocks affected households’ human capital development (using health and education outcomes).ResultsThe results indicate that the COVID-19 induced shocks impact on both health and education in Nigeria. Interestingly, access to social safety nets had a positive association with the health and education outcomes. The study concludes that households’ access to social safety nets, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic aids in the development of the nation’s human capital. Therefore, effectively enhancing household’s resilience and strengthening human capital development require positive and considerable innovation, maybe over a period of years. Hence, just an access to the national social safety nets programs or social programs may not be as effective as expected. Therefore, it may not be as successful as intended to just have access to national social safety net programs or social programs that contribute or transfer negligible amounts to the vulnerable recipients over short time frames.

Systematic comparison of household income, consumption, and assets to measure health inequalities in low- and middle-income countries

There has been no systematic comparison of how the three most common measures to quantify household SES—income, consumption, and asset indices—could impact the magnitude of health inequalities. Microdata from 22 Living Standards Measurement Study surveys were compiled and concentration indices, relative indices of inequality, and slope indices of inequality were calculated for underweight, stunting, and child deaths using income, consumption, asset indices, and hybrid predicted income. Meta-analyses of survey year subgroups (pre-1995, 1995–2004, and post-2004), outcomes (child deaths, stunting, and underweight), and World Bank country-income status (low, low-middle, and upper-middle) were then conducted. Asset indices and the related hybrid income proxy result in the largest magnitudes of health inequalities for all 12 overall outcomes, as well as most country-income and survey year subgroupings. There is no clear trend of health inequality magnitudes changing over time, but magnitudes of health inequality may increase as country-income levels increase. There is no significant difference between relative and absolute inequality measures, but the hybrid predicted income measure behaves more similarly to asset indices than the household income it is supposed to model. Health inequality magnitudes may be affected by the choice of household SES measure and should be studied in further detail.

Households’ entry into non-farm entrepreneurship and the market exit of enterprises in rural Ethiopia

Purpose This paper examines household and community characteristics that influence the entry of rural households into non-farm entrepreneurship and investigates the various factors that influence the market exit of non-farm enterprises (NFEs).Design/methodology/approach The authors use data from three rounds (2011/12, 2013/14 and 2015/16) of the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). The authors employ panel logit and multilevel logit models to examine the probability of opening one or more enterprises and the enterprise exit rates.Findings Results indicate that the likelihood of starting a NFE is positively associated with primary education attainment, access to credit, experiencing idiosyncratic shocks and availability of formal financial institutions. Age, higher education attainment and rising farm input prices constrain entry into non-farm entrepreneurship. The enterprise exit rate is negatively associated with small-town residence, wealth, access to tar/gravel roads and cellphone communication.Practical implications Policymakers and administrators should strive to address the challenges that communities face in transportation, communication and financial services. Policies aimed at stabilizing prices and increasing access to mobile communication, primary education and road infrastructure could help expand the rural non-farm sector.Originality/value Previous studies primarily examined the determinants of participation in NFEs at a given time using cross-sectional data. The current study uses panel data to study the dynamics of NFE ownership by investigating households’ decisions to enter into or exit from the sector.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2022-0611

Farm location and occupational choices in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for agricultural households in Tanzania

This paper examines how agricultural households in Tanzania use a labor coping strategy in occupational choices between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors due to farm locational effect. It investigates whether agricultural households diversify their income generating activities away from agriculture by using Multinomial logit Marginal Effects model. It employs three rounds panel data from the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) carried out in Tanzania as a typical case of SSA economies. The key finding indicates that for each additional kilometer from their residences, households choose non-agricultural self-employment sector by relocating labor from agricultural sector in response to the associated costs and income risks. The comparable results between distant and farmlands nearby households reveal that for farmlands located in each additional kilometer beyond 7.8 km, a typical household relocates away 20 more labor days from agricultural sector compared to the number of days relocated for a similar effect on a farmland located in close proximity to household residence. Meanwhile, the average household allocates 13 more labor days to non-agricultural self-employed sector compared to the number of labor days allocated to a farmland located in close proximity to household residence. There is no empirical evidence on labor movements to and from the non-agricultural waged sector. The policy outlook from the findings implies improvement of rural transport technology and infrastructure in order to curb the income loss due to distant farmlands.

A method for estimating physical and economic food access at high spatial resolution

Physical and economic access to food vary spatially. Methods to map that variability at high levels of spatial detail over large areas are scarce, even though suitable datasets and methods exist. Using open-access data for Ethiopia, we developed a method to map the disparities in physical and economic food access at 1-km resolution. We selected 25 access-related variables for 486 geo-located communities from the 2018 Ethiopian Living Standards Measurement Study to create a food access index (FAI). The index was based on a weighted summation of the 25 variables from a principal component analysis (PCA). We then extrapolated the FAI to the rest of Ethiopia using a generalized additive model (GAM) to produce a 1-km resolution FAI map and used that to describe the spatial variability of food access. Economic access had a heavier weight than physical access in the FAI reflecting the fact that proximity to food markets alone is insufficient if one cannot afford food. The GAM had an R2 of 0.57 and a normalized root mean square error of 22.2% which are comparable to measures of model performance in studies that provided micro-level estimates of relative wealth. Peri-urban areas, representing 67% of the population, had relatively low food access, suggesting that these areas should be a priority for infrastructure or economic intervention. The scarcity of detailed spatial information on food access may limit the effectiveness of targeted policymaking to improve food security. The methodology developed in this study uses widely available and carefully selected datasets and can contribute to more spatially detailed estimates of food access in other countries.

Household food insecurity and cooking energy access in Nigeria: A panel data approach

Access to sources of cooking energy has potential impacts on food security, however, there is a paucity of information and empirical evidence on their linkages. This study sought to ascertain the impacts of access to cooking energy on household food security in Nigeria, using the nationally representative Living Standards Measurement Study data. The data covered the period 2010/2011 to 2015/2016. The Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), and the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) were used to measure household food security, while the major cooking fuel type utilized by households was used as a proxy for cooking energy access. To unravel the effects of access to different cooking energy sources on food security, inferential analysis was conducted using the Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE). The findings of the study revealed that traditional/biomass (firewood, grass and charcoal) cooking energy sources are still widely used by households across Nigeria. The empirical analysis showed that households that use transition and clean cooking energy sources were eating more diverse diets than those that use biomass. Furthermore, households using clean cooking energy sources had lower HFIAS than those using biomass. It is imperative that more households in Nigeria should have improved access to cleaner sources of cooking energy to reduce carbon emissions and enhance health outcomes, and food and nutrition status. This will significantly improve the national food security outlook, and foster the attainment of national and SDG (2 and 7) goals.

Leaving no one behind: Urban poverty traps in Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite considerable achievements in the reduction of poverty over the last decades, poverty remains conspicuously high and profound. While fast urban population growth, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, has contributed to poverty reduction, new development challenges like the urbanisation of poverty emerge. However, little is known about the state and persistence of poverty in urban areas. This study investigates urban poverty within the theory of poverty traps among urban households in Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia, three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with large urban populations and fast urban population growth. Using household panel data from the World Bank’s Living Standard Measurement Study between 2008 and 2015, we test whether consumption-based poverty traps exist in these contexts. Our results show that initially poor households experience an increase in well-being over time, while richer households face a decline and remain vulnerable to falling back into poverty. As households converge to consumption levels around the $3.20 poverty line, there is considerable movement into and out of poverty over time. However, a sticky consumption floor shows that despite upward dynamics amongst the poor, some are being left behind. Finally, we argue that improved urban data is needed to identify the vulnerable middle, and to design structural policies preventing them from falling back into poverty.

Information and Communication Technology deployment and agricultural value chain nexus in Nigeria

This study examined the point of the agricultural value chain where the deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is significant. The study used the data sourced from wave 4 (2018/2019) of the Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Survey on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) and applied the Multinomial Logit (MNL) regression. The result showed that ICT deployment is significant for all actors along the agricultural value chain. However, though significant for all actors on the value chain, the estimated coefficients slightly differ. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is helpful for all the actors along the chain from the estimated coefficients but higher at the farmgate collectors. This can be based on the rationale that, unlike other actors in the chain, the farmgate collectors interact directly or more with the farmers, making ICT more crucial for them than other actors in the chain. The study concludes that ICT can provide farmers and value chain actors with information about the market, among others, new production skills and processes that will help them upgrade, leading to entry into higher-value markets.

Gender and agricultural Productivity: Econometric evidence from Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda

Agricultural productivity gaps between men and women have been widely documented in many sub-Saharan African countries. Fundamentally, though, we contend that women have the same inherent intellectual (and thus farm management) capabilities as men but are inhibited by local conditions that put them at a disadvantage. We, therefore, hypothesize that by controlling for observed socio-economic, geographic, and agro-ecological characteristics, gender related farm productivity gaps would fade. Drawing on the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture for Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, we first match on observables to select comparable plots managed by male and female farmers, then estimate correlated true random effects stochastic production frontiers, followed by a meta-frontier to examine total factor productivity (TFP) and benchmarked technical efficiency. At the core of our approach is controlling for systematic observed and unobserved heterogeneity that could bias the comparative analysis. Results are mixed, but they tend to support our hypothesis. In Malawi, where we find market imperfections favor female farmers, women are more efficient than are male farmers and they exhibit TFP performance parity. In contrast, Tanzanian and Ugandan labor market imperfections favor male farmers, as do efficiency and TFP performance estimates.

Financial inclusion, gender gaps and agricultural productivity in Mali

AbstractMali is a prominent fragile and post‐conflict country, and armed rebellions have cumulatively resulted in over 20 years of conflict since independence. Agriculture is the mainstay of the Malian economy and accounts for about 40% of GDP and employs 80% of the active population. However, the agricultural sector has performed sub‐optimally and food security has not been attained. Financial exclusion and gender inequality have been identified as critical impediments to agricultural productivity. This study conducted an empirical investigation of the effects of financial inclusion and gender gaps on agricultural productivity in Mali. The study made use of data from the Living Standards Measurement Study—Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS–ISA) for the year 2017 in Mali. The empirical results show that financial inclusion has had a positive and significant effect on agricultural productivity in Mali. In addition, the results demonstrate that gender gaps exist in agricultural productivity, and agricultural productivity of women is lower than that of men. The gender gap in the full specifications was between 44.5% and 49.8%. The study concludes by providing some policy options for improving financial inclusion and thus reducing gender gaps, so as to boost agricultural productivity.

Influence of female and male incomes on food expenditures of Nicaraguan households

Otras investigaciones han explorado si los ingresos del hogar son utilizados de la misma manera dependiendo del género de la persona que los genere. Sin embargo, la mayoría de estos estudios no incluyen dentro del análisis a los hogares con múltiples miembros generadores de ingreso. Este trabajo intenta llenar este vacío en la literatura explorando los cambios en los gastos alimentarios de los hogares generados ante una variación en los ingresos de las mujeres frente a aquellos percibidos por los hombres, tanto en los hogares nucleares con dos generadores de ingresos como en los formados por múltiples miembros generadores de ingresos. Este estudio es exploratorio y utiliza la Encuesta de Medición del Nivel de Vida (EMNV) de Nicaragua de 2014 como fuente de información. Para ello, se estima una curva de Engel de alimentos, utilizando análisis de regresión, que integra la noción de coaliciones de intereses de género como parte de las variables demográficas. No se encontraron grandes diferencias entre las asignaciones del presupuesto del hogar destinado a alimentación frente a los cambios de los ingresos laborales generados por mujeres y hombres. Las características personales analizadas afectan de forma negativa el gasto en alimentación. Por el contrario, las características del hogar, i.e., número de personas generadoras de ingresos y área de residencia, son los principales determinantes del aumento de los gastos alimentarios del hogar. No se encontraron diferencias entre hogares nucleares y múltiples generadores de ingresos.