Living Standards Measurement Research Articles

Unveiling the Dynamics of Household Poverty: Empirical Insights from a Developing Country

ABSTRACT This study examines the determinants of poverty across all provinces using 2019–20 data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey. The results from binary logistic regression analysis reveal several significant findings; household size, the square of the household head’s age, marital status and province-specific factors are positively associated with a household head’s classification as poor. Conversely, the age and gender of the household head, educational levels of the household head, household characteristics, and assets exhibit negative correlations with poverty. The findings will offer valuable insights for policymakers to formulate targeted poverty reduction strategies toward potential solutions.

Gendered livelihoods and the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices in Nigeria

Feminist research maintains that livelihood activities are socially differentiated. While gendered unevenness in livelihood opportunities may condition the agricultural adaptive capacities of male-headed households (MHHs) and female-headed households (FHHs) to climate change, the gendered dimensions of livelihood activities have not been addressed in much of the climate-smart agriculture practices (CSAPs) adoption literature. This paper expands feminist livelihood research by analysing gendered dimensions of livelihood activities and their relation to the adoption and intensity of the use of CSAPs. The analysis draws on a nationally representative Living Standards Measurement Survey - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) panel dataset from Nigeria. The research findings show that a significantly higher percentage of FHHs (51%) are involved in on-farm activities compared to their MHHs (38%) counterparts (p < 0.01). The results further show that gendered household headship (HH) is significantly associated with the adoption of CSAPs. Moreover, based on a feminist approach to livelihoods, we find that livelihood diversification moderates the relationship between gendered HH and CSAP adoption intensity. This suggests that FHHs with more livelihood opportunities have a greater probability of adopting a greater number of CSAPs than MHHs. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for the promotion of CSAPs and sheds light on how the Nigerian government can formulate gender-sensitive policies to promote the adoption of CSAPs.

Household resilience and mitigating strategies to conflicts and shocks: evidence from household data in Uganda and Malawi

ABSTRACT We examine household food security resilience to conflict and shock in Uganda and Malawi using data from the Household Living Standards Measurement Survey. We collect data on resilience components such as education, asset ownership, dwelling characteristics, water access, and sanitation facilities. Principal component analysis is used to generate factor weights for constructing the Resilience Capacity Index, which measures overall household resilience capacity and individual resilience components. The resilience capacity is then used in regression models to assess its mitigating effects on food security during conflicts and shocks. Our results indicate that resilience capacity significantly reduces the adverse effects of conflict and shock on food security. In Malawi, household head education contributes most to food security, while in Uganda, water access is the most critical component. In Malawi, water access resilience diminishes the impact of conflict, sanitation resilience reduces the impacts of flooding, and dwelling characteristics lessen the effects of drought, although the effect size is small. In Uganda, asset ownership resilience mitigates the impacts of drought, while sanitation resilience reduces the adverse effects of conflict. These findings highlight the importance of different resilience components in enhancing food security under various adverse conditions.

Understanding the determinants of household cooking-fuel choice in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from Nigeria

Abstract Overreliance on traditional cooking fuels by agricultural households poses a significant obstacle to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 by 2030 in Nigeria. Despite the emerging recognition of remittances as a crucial factor influencing cooking-fuel choices in the energy-transition literature, there is a paucity of studies examining this influence in Nigeria. Using data from 4400 agricultural households sourced from the fourth wave of the Nigerian Living Standard Measurement Survey data sets, this study examined the influence of remittances on cooking-fuel choices, among other factors in Nigeria. Employing descriptive statistics and the multinomial logit regression model, the analysis reveals that traditional cooking fuels, including wood, crop residue and animal dung, continue to dominate the cooking-fuel landscape. The empirical result of the multinomial logit model showed that households that receive remittances are more likely to use modern cooking fuels. Furthermore, wealthier, more educated households with access to electricity are more likely to use modern and transitional cooking fuels than traditional cooking fuels. Based on the findings, the study suggests the incentivization of remittances into the country through the reduction in associated transaction costs and accelerated public infrastructural investment in affordable electricity and good road networks to connect rural areas to gas-supply networks to drive the transition to modern cooking energy. Additionally, educational and awareness campaigns about the health risks associated with traditional cooking energy, particularly indoor air pollution, should be encouraged, especially in rural areas.

Does shifting from subsistence to commercial farming improve household nutrition and poverty? evidence from Malawi, Tanzania and Nigeria

The current study sought to assess the effect of smallholder crop commercialization on household nutrition security and poverty status. Recent government efforts have gone beyond investing in agricultural production, thereby establishing markets for smallholder farmers in order to commercialize the agricultural sector. As such, developing countries like Malawi, Tanzania, and Nigeria are slowly transitioning to a market economy in order to improve the livelihoods of their people. To that effect, the study used country-wide representative data from Malawi, Tanzania, and Nigeria collected under the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Surveys (LSMS) and employed an instrumented-censored (probit and tobit) model to solve for endogeneity bias. The results show that poverty and nutrition insecurity were higher among subsistence farmers, emphasizing the need for a shift towards commercialization of the country's agricultural sector. Furthermore, farmer social and institutional context significantly influenced market participation. The study hence recommends a tailor-made extension delivery system, cutting across gender divides and other social barriers among smallholder farm households, in order to improve crop production among subsistence farmers, ensure household food security, and increase income from the sale of surplus crop output.

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.

The Ageing Crisis Threatening Farming in Ethiopia: An Analysis of Youth Involvement in Agriculture

This study examined youth labor force participation in agriculture and factors impeding effective participation in Ethiopia using the 2011-2018 data from the Living Standards Measurement Survey-Integrated Survey of Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). The analytical tools included both descriptive statistics and econometric analysis. Summary statistics show that the average age of the respondents was 47 years, thus they are not at an economically active age. This is an upward trend of 52 years in 2018 compared to 44 years in 2011. The ordinary least square (OLS) regression result indicated that for every 1 unit increase in the independent variable (time), there will be a 1.01 increase in the dependent variable (farm age). The result showed that the increase in time affected age of the farming positively and significantly. The evidence suggested farming population in Ethiopia is growing older and reduced involvement of youth (14.4%). The results also revealed low participation of youth in agriculture activities which increases youth unemployment. In turn, the total dependency ratio in the population equals 102.7. This high dependency ratio means that the ‘dependents’ in society are more reliant on a smaller number of working-aged people, which suggests that for every 1027 dependents, there are roughly 1000 working-age people providing them food through farming. The review result showed youth participation in Ethiopian agriculture is influenced by limited access to land, low attitude on agriculture (attitudinal problems), inadequate access to financial services, problems of rural life, and backwardness of agricultural tools. The study suggests that efforts to shape future work in Ethiopian agriculture should include among other things, access to land and provision of credit facilities. The study pointed out that the efforts to shape the future of agricultural work in Ethiopia should ensure the availability of land and credit.

Does the small business programme benefit self-employed workers? Evidence from Nicaragua

ABSTRACT Business and skills training programmes have been a popular social policy intervention to increase productivity of the self-employed in developing countries. We study the Small Business of the Family Economy programme, a government business training programme designed to assist Nicaraguan self-employed workers. Using data from three rounds of the Nicaragua Living Standards Measurement Survey, we employ a difference-in-differences strategy to exploit variation in eligibility for the programme across time and economic activity. Our estimates indicate that the programme does not increase self-employed workers’ earnings overall. However, we find heterogeneous treatment effects for female self-employed workers with low educational attainment, which could be explained by increased working months and having a second job.

Demand for secondary schooling in Pakistan: A cross income group analysis

Secondary education for all is one of the UN’s attainable goals. Many countries, including Pakistan, are struggling to achieve this target. Earlier research has attempted to analyze the determinants of secondary schooling by taking the total income of households. However, households of different income groups respond differently to varying socio-economic factors. This study attempts to identify the household-level socio-economic determinants of secondary schooling across different income groups in Pakistan. It utilizes national survey data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey 2019-20. We selected households from the dataset that had at least one member of secondary school age (13-20 years). Households that enrolled a secondary school-age member in school or whose member achieved secondary schooling were categorized as having demand for secondary schooling. Furthermore, instead of taking the total income of households, study takes six categories of income. The results of logit estimation show that demand for secondary schooling increases across successive income groups, indicating secondary schooling is a normal commodity. The proportion of male school-going age members and having a female head increase the likelihood of demand for secondary schooling. The study recommends that policies to increase enrollment at the secondary level may focus more on lower-income groups and on the education of females.

Unraveling the Gender Gap: A Comparative Analysis of School Enrollment and Secondary Education Completion in Pakistan's Provinces

This study examines the gender gap in school enrollment and secondary school completion in Pakistan using secondary data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) and Pakistan Education Statistics reports. A comparative analysis of the four provinces and their districts is conducted to identify regional dynamics contributing to gender disparities in education. The research investigates the relationship between students who ever attended school, those who passed secondary school, and the gender gap in enrollment. Descriptive statistics analyze school enrollment rates and dropouts across different regions. Data from the official governmental reports, including the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and PSLM (2019-20), and education statistics reports from 2017 for Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan, serve as the foundation for this analysis. The study offers valuable insights into the complex web of causality and influence shaping the persistence of gender disparities in education in Pakistan.

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.

The impact of conflict on food security: evidence from household data in Ethiopia and Malawi

BackgroundViolent conflicts threaten food security and household welfare in sub-Saharan Africa. While a more robust understanding of the causal relationship between food security and conflict is vital in mitigating food insecurity and bolstering peace prospects, only limited research exists on this topic, especially at the household level where estimations are more empirically challenging given data constraints and identification issues. Our analysis utilizes a newly developed and novel difference-in-differences model developed by de Chaisemartin and D’Haultfoeuille (2020) to determine the causal relationship between violent conflicts and food security in two sub-Saharan African countries—Malawi and Ethiopia using household-level data from the World Bank’s Household Living Standards Measurement Survey.ResultsOur results suggest that exposure to violent conflict on average decreases the food consumption score (FCS) by 6.84 units, which corresponds to a 16.13% reduction in FCS. With respect to individual countries, Malawi shows the largest effect-size, with the FCS decreasing by 10.54 units (equivalent to a 20.22% reduction in FCS). In Ethiopia, the causal estimate was slightly smaller at − 4.32 (equivalent to a 11.67% reduction in FCS) although the baseline food security status was lower relative to Malawi. Disaggregated analyses show that the effect-size can be several orders of magnitude larger when conflict is experienced simultaneously with natural shocks. Robustness checks using different iterations of propensity score matching generate comparable causal estimates and reinforce the overall findings.ConclusionsThe findings help improve our understanding of a broader issue by providing new direct and granular evidence regarding the relationship between conflict and food security using household data. The results hold implications for aid and humanitarian efforts to help households facing food insecurity stemming from violence and other factors.

Impact of Internal Remittances on Labour Participation and Employment Choice in Pakistan

This study examines internal remittances’ effects on Pakistan’s labour market outcomes. The study utilises data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement – Household Integrated Economic Survey (PSLM – HIES 2018-2019). The study uses Logit and Multinomial Logit models to estimate the effect of internal remittances on labour participation and employment choices. The study’s findings suggest that individuals from households receiving internal remittances are less likely to participate in the labour market than those from households that do not receive remittances. Moreover, internal remittances lower the likelihood to participate in the labour market. Amongst the labour participating, the individuals of remittance-receiving households are more inclined to participate in farming vis-à-vis non-receiving individuals. It is also observed that a rise in remittances results in a greater likelihood of farming activities. The study’s findings have important implications pertaining to understanding the entrepreneurial level and economic activities in remittance-receiving households.

Mitigate the Effect of Poverty on Food Security through Education in Developing Countries: A Case of Pakistan

The current research study finds the relationship among food security, poverty status and education in Pakistan and also found the education in the mediating role to mitigate the effect of poverty on food security. The research study also analyzes the impact of livestock, foreign remittances, age of respondent and female head of household on food security. PSLM (Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement) survey data of 2019-20 is used for empirical estimation of the current study. Using PSLM has certain benefits, PSLM survey is conducted by a team of experts and the survey covers all the regions of Pakistan, it also covers almost all indicators relating to food security, education and poverty etc. Research study finds that livestock, education, foreign remittances and house head female have a significant positive impact on food security and poverty has a significant negative impact on food security. Poor people facing threat toward food security in Pakistan. On the same time the people who are poor but have education are able to mitigate the effect of poverty on the food security in urban and rural areas. The research study also finds that there are wide gaps among urban and rural areas of Pakistan, level of education in Pakistan. The research study also presents policy recommendations that help’s government for better management of resources and to reduce poverty

Understanding poverty dimensions and transitions in Malawi: A panel data approach

Poverty alleviation remains one of the ancient goals of Malawi as the country has since 1994 adopted a poverty alleviation strategy throughout its developmental programs. Through the support of the World Bank, a poverty monitoring system was put in place whose data are collected through the Living Standards Measurement Surveys (LSMS). However, since the establishment of the LSMS, findings of different assessments and eras have revealed instabilities in the country’s poverty levels overtime. What remains unclear is whether households have been able to move out of poverty or not. The current study employed a two wave LSMS panel of 2016 and 2019 and assessed poverty dimensions including poverty incidence, depth and severity. The study further assessed the determinants of poverty transitions in order to understand movements in and out of poverty. Household size, gender of household head, education level of the household head, agricultural land holding sizes, access to credit, residence (urban or rural) and expected shocks significantly influenced the poverty dimensions and poverty transition. It is hence imperative that proper strategies that embrace robust and sustainable credit systems, improvement in literacy levels of the Malawian population, and further improving agricultural land productivity can help reduce poverty and further move households out of poverty. Such initiatives should take into consideration the gender divide and the rapid population growth faced by the country.

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.

Mobile money, child labour and school enrolment

This paper analyses the impact of household adoption of mobile money services on child labour and schooling in Tanzania. The paper uses data drawn from the Tanzania National Panel Surveys (TNPS), for the survey periods as follows: 2008/09, 2010/11, 2012/13, and 2014/15. The TNPS are national representative surveys conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics of Tanzania in collaboration with the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LMSA-ISA). The surveys collect detailed information on individual, household, and community-level characteristics. The panel nature of the TNPS allows for the same households to be interviewed over time. The study uses a difference-in-differences approach, and instrumental variables strategy to investigate the nexus between mobile money adoption and child labour and school enrolment in Tanzania. The findings of this study reveal a positive and significant effect of mobile money adoption on school enrolment, but a negative effect on children's labour market activities. Moreover, the study identifies heterogenous impacts across child's gender and age; and remittances receipt and education expenditure are the potential pathways through which mobile money adoption affects child labour and school enrolment. Overall, the results suggest that policies that enhance financial inclusion such as the introduction of mobile money can be effective in improving child's school enrolment and a decline in the incidence of child labour.