Behavior Of Rural Households Research Articles

ICT for financial access: Mobile money and the financial behavior of rural households in Uganda

AbstractMobile money usage has expanded tremendously in Uganda, reaching over 40% of the adult population within 8 years of inception. We use data from 820 rural households to examine the effect of this financial innovation on their financial behavior. We find that using mobile money services increases the likelihood of saving, borrowing, and receiving remittances. The corresponding amounts of each service are also significantly higher among mobile money user households relative to their nonuser counterparts. We demonstrate that the mechanism of this impact is a reduction in transaction costs—a combination of transportation fares and service charges—associated with household proximity to mobile money agents. To illustrate the convenience of service proximity, we demonstrate that the household's likelihood and frequency of using mobile money services reduces with the distance to the nearest mobile money agent. This distance variable is then used to instrument for the potentially endogenous mobile money adoption. We finally perform propensity score matching to reinforce the robustness of our results; our results are consistent across all these specifications. The results imply that developing and enhancing access to and usage of pro‐poor financial products could be a first step to achieving greater financial inclusion.

Relationship between cultivated land use functions and land rental behavior of rural households: empirical evidence from different dominant functional regions in central China

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the relationship between the cultivated land use functions and the land rental decisions of rural households in three Dominant Functional Zones of Hubei, China. The results indicate that 41.10% of the rural households in the study areas participated in the land rental market. The land rental market in the Key Development Zone has both a higher participation rate and land rent; the Agricultural Production Zone has a higher participation rate but a lower land rent; and the land rental market in the Key Ecological Zone is underdeveloped. The difference in regional function and economic level leads to a significant difference in the spatial variation of the cultivated land use multifunction. Overall, the cultivated land function of rural households has a significant impact on their land transfer behavior. The higher the Functions of Economic Contribution, Food Production, and Pension & Employment, the more willing the rural households are to rent in the land, while the higher the F...

Perception and Information Seeking Behaviour of Rural Households towards Health Promoting Practices in Maigana District of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Information is valuable, increases understanding and reduces uncertainty. Limited knowledge and access to health promoting and disease prevention programmes are more pronounced in rural than urban areas of Nigeria. Furthermore, the paucity of healthcare services in these rural communities also contributes to the prevalence of health challenges in the rural sector. This study investigated the perception and information seeking behavior of rural households in Maigana District of Kaduna State, Nigeria towards health promoting practices. A random sample of 152 respondents selected from five of eleven wards in the district was interviewed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The results, based on a 4-point Likert type scale and benchmark of 2.5 showed a very poor perception of health promoting practices among the respondents. Also, the information needs of the respondents were shown to be enormous. Three of the six socio-demographic variables regressed were found to significantly influence the information seeking behavior of the respondents regarding health promoting practices. Constraints limiting the embracement of health promoting practices were identified and measures aimed at promoting healthier living standards in rural communities were recommended. The study concludes that vast knowledge gaps do exist coupled with the poor perception of HPPs by the respondents.

Influence of Demographic Variables on Saving Behaviour of Rural Households – A Study with Reference to Sriperumpudur, Chennai

Saving is really a good habit particularly for the common layman. With the understanding of the above, a study was conducted in Sriperumpudur near Chennai about the saving behaviour of households and the influence of demographics over them. Objectives: The study was conducted by the authors to know the influence of demographic variables on a whole in saving behaviour and specifically, to know the level of influence of demographic factors in savings, to identify the level of saving of the people from their income and to identify the nature of investors. Analysis: The descriptive research design is adopted by the researchers in this study. They have adopted the non-probabilistic convenience sampling method for the collection of sample and the exact sample size of the study is 457. The respondents are approached with the systematic self-administered questionnaire for data collection. The researcher has used the chi-square test and the cluster analysis for the data analysis and further execution of the study. The study was concentrated on Sriperumpudur town near to Chennai only. Findings: The study has major findings that demographic variables like gender, age, marital status, number of earning members in the family, annual income have influenced annual savings. It is also found that there is an association between different heterogeneous groups of households' investment in financial market and their annual savings. But it has been indentified that there is no association between education and annual savings. Hence it is concluded that the demographic variables are playing vital role in influencing the saving behaviour of the individuals. Applications: The study has contributed for the improvements in the area where saving behaviour can be investigated from the dimension of influence of demographic variables. There are different applications that are made to identify the demographical behaviour of the respondents towards their investment choice. This study can also extensively be applied in the case of classification of demographic and psychographic variables. Improvements: Different educational qualifications of the respondents found in this study and they are considered as School Education, UG, PG, and Professional Education. They have different qualifications and aims in the determination of the investment avenues but at the same time the qualification does not influence them to choose the investment avenue. But all other demographic variables have an influence over the choice of investment avenues and change the behaviour of the investors towards the investment process. It is also found that there are certain developments in the behaviour of the individuals regarding their investment choice by their demographics.

Effectiveness of Local Government and Community Participation in Health Service Delivery in Rural Haryana

The recent health sector reform initiatives argue that health service delivery mechanism can be made effective through the participation of local governments and community in policy making, planning and services delivery. We believe that the gain from such initiatives to the large extent depends on how these initiatives are implemented at the ground level. In order to evaluate their effectiveness, this study first captures the degree of local agent’s participation and extent of decentralization in health, and then measures their impact on health service access and health-seeking behaviour of rural households, controlling for socio-economic, demographic and political factors, such as reservation of women/minority groups in politics. This exercise is largely based on field survey data collected from 12 villages of Haryana. The results show that the degree of community participation and women/minority groups’ reservation in politics hardly matters for promoting the equity in access to health care. This may be because dominant class/caste/male captures most of the decentralization powers in Haryana. A properly designed and implemented decentralized policy however turns effective in promoting the health care use from public facilities. The study argues that the gains from decentralization can be enhanced by devolving more health-related functions, funds, management, regulation and policy making powers to local Panchayat and community. The magnitude of Panchayat support and priorities to health and coordination between local agents and health functionaries is a value addition for materializing the greater gains from such decentralized initiatives.

Healthcare Utilization among Urban and Rural Households in Esera District: Comparative Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Health care seeking behaviour of households is influenced by individuals’ characteristics, type of diseases and access of health services. This study conducted to assess the health care seeking behavior and associated factors of urban and rural households for perceived morbidity in Southwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A comparative community based cross-sectional study was conducted among urban and rural households living in the Esera district, southwest Ethiopia. 377 head of households (119 urban and 258 rural dwellers), selected via simple random sampling technique after census, were the respondents. Healthcare seeking behavior on perceived illnesses of households of the district was assessed using a pretested structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, and binary and multiple logistic regression analysis were applied to compare and identify independent predictors of health care seeking behavior. RESULTS: A total of 377 (119 urban and 258 rural) households were included in the analysis making a response rate of 95.7%. Health care seeking behavior was higher among urban households (80.7%) than rural households (48.1%). Being married and perceived severity of disease were significantly associated with health care seeking behavior of urban households. Health seeking behavior of rural households was statistically different with monthly income, perceived severity of disease, acute duration of disease and distance from health facilities. CONCLUSIONS: The overall health seeking behaviors of households for perceived illness was satisfactory, but urban households seek health care more than rural. Health seeking behavior of urban households differed in matrimonial status and severity of disease perception, whereas, of rural households differed in household monthly income, severity of disease perception, duration of disease and distance from health center. This cues to work on accessibility and promotion of health care on the majority of the population of the country.

An Analysis on Borrowing Behavior of Rural Households in Vientiane Municipality: Case Study of Four Villages

Since the late 1990s the savings groups have been introduced in the villages of Laos. This movement has offered new borrowing opportunities for the rural people. Based on household survey using a structured questionnaire in four study villages (N=684) in Vientiane Municipality during 2007–08 we analyzed the role and performance of the savings group in rural financial markets, especially focusing on who borrows, from which sources, and for what purposes by comparing the savings group with informal and formal lenders. Two major findings are as follows. First, three types of lenders (savings groups, formal and informal lenders) have their own particular features, and thereby loan purposes differ significantly. Formal banks offer loans exclusively for production purposes, while informal lenders do for coping with emergencies. Savings groups fall between them. Second, though poor households are reluctant to be a savings group member, once they participate in they actively obtain loans from it. In contrast, though rich households actively participate in the group, they obtain loans less from it. Group members claim that the primary purpose of joining the savings group is to cope with emergencies. When the members obtain loans from the savings group, however, nearly 40% of the loans are used for production purposes, mainly in agriculture. There exists a change between saving purposes and borrowing ones. It is assumed that in villages with the higher loan credit for production purposes, the savings groups show favorable performance, and thus a rapid growth.

Can there be Rural Development from Agglomeration Externalities & Household Efficiencies?: Lessons from a Field Study in India

Two important developments in agricultural economics highlight the role of agglomeration externalities in agriculture. First, Fujita (2006; 2007) stresses the role of agglomeration forces in driving rural development. Secondly, the role of microeconomic behavior of rural households in harnessing the benefits of agglomeration externalities has also been highlighted as a source of agrarian development. Despite these recent advancements, we still have little evidence if household behavior and agglomeration externalities can blend to create household prosperity and, thereby, promote rural development. In this paper we report the findings from a field study in one of the poorest villages of South Asia to confirm that the sources of rural prosperity can derive from the idiosyncratic household behavior as well as agglomeration externalities of a village economy. We offer a simple methodology to identify the impacts of agglomeration externalities and household efficiency on the generation of household incomes.

Coping with Food Insecurity on a Micro-Scale: Evidence from Ethiopian Rural Households

This article examines the main household demographics and economic factors associated with food insecurity and coping behavior of rural households employed during times of food shortages in northern Ethiopia. Using a cost-of-basic-needs approach we estimated the food poverty line. This cut-off value was used to classify households as either food secure or insecure. Then empirical analyses were used, based on respectively a logit regression model and a coping strategy index. The estimated results revealed that household size, size of farm land, livestock ownership, frequency of extension services, and proximity to basic infrastructures are associated with the food security status of farming households in the study area. Moreover, households relied largely on consumption-based coping strategies when faced with food shortages.

Skyworth TV: channel dynamics and growth in China's rural market

Subject area Marketing. Study level/applicability Target audience this decision case has been tried and tested in a classroom setting with final-year undergraduate BBA students and postgraduate students studying an MSc in marketing. The specific course in which this case was used was marketing management in China. This case may also be suitable for an undergraduate or masters level courses in consumer behaviour, distribution management or marketing in China. The case covers environment analysis, market segmentation, consumer behaviour and distribution channels. Case overview Skyworth, a Chinese manufacturer of television sets, was faced with some major decisions. Government subsidies on consumer purchases of household appliances had stimulated demand for TV sets especially in rural areas. However, there were limited distribution channels serving rural areas. Large-scale nationwide chain stores like Gome and Suning served mainly urban areas and top-tier cities. These retailer chains were less interested in selling TV sets as their profit margins were lower. How should Skyworth set up its distribution network to take advantage of the growth in rural markets? Establishing its own channel network would involve huge investments that would affect Skyworth's profits in the next few years. Relying on existing retailer chains may not give it the coverage it wanted. Skyworth's brand reputation had also suffered because of poor product quality and customer support. Can the distribution channel network help to improve its brand reputation and customer loyalty? This case highlights how government policies in China can shape the growth of the household appliance market and change consumption patterns. Expected learning outcomes By studying this case, students will: 1. Examine how environmental factors affect television manufacturers in China; 2. Understand the buying behaviour of rural households for household appliances; 3. Examine distribution channels in an emerging market; 4. Evaluate a company's product portfolio strategy; and5. Suggest segmentation bases for the market for television sets in China. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or e-mail support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Skyworth TV: channel dynamics and growth in China ' s rural market

Title – Skyworth TV: channel dynamics and growth in China ' s rural market. Subject area – Marketing. Study level/applicability – Target audience this decision case has been tried and tested in a classroom setting with final-year undergraduate BBA students and postgraduate students studying an MSc in marketing. The specific course in which this case was used was marketing management in China. This case may also be suitable for an undergraduate or masters level courses in consumer behaviour, distribution management or marketing in China. The case covers environment analysis, market segmentation, consumer behaviour and distribution channels. Case overview – Skyworth, a Chinese manufacturer of television sets, was faced with some major decisions. Government subsidies on consumer purchases of household appliances had stimulated demand for TV sets especially in rural areas. However, there were limited distribution channels serving rural areas. Large-scale nationwide chain stores like Gome and Suning served mainly urban areas and top-tier cities. These retailer chains were less interested in selling TV sets as their profit margins were lower. How should Skyworth set up its distribution network to take advantage of the growth in rural markets? Establishing its own channel network would involve huge investments that would affect Skyworth ' s profits in the next few years. Relying on existing retailer chains may not give it the coverage it wanted. Skyworth ' s brand reputation had also suffered because of poor product quality and customer support. Can the distribution channel network help to improve its brand reputation and customer loyalty? This case highlights how government policies in China can shape the growth of the household appliance market and change consumption patterns. Expected learning outcomes – By studying this case, students will:1. Examine how environmental factors affect television manufacturers in China;2. Understand the buying behaviour of rural households for household appliances;3. Examine distribution channels in an emerging market;4. Evaluate a company ' s product portfolio strategy; and5. Suggest segmentation bases for the market for television sets in China. Supplementary materials – Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or e-mail support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Demographics and Saving Behavior of Households in Rural Areas of Vietnam: An Empirical Analysis

This paper studies the saving behavior of rural households in Vietnam from two aspects: volume of savings and methods of saving. Two econometric models are conducted, the first one is a panel data model, used to examine the determinants of household saving; and the second one is a multinomial logit model used to investigate how a household chooses the way to save. Both models are based on the life cycle theory of saving and the permanent income hypothesis. We find that the household head’s age, education and gender are closely related to their saving behavior. And the impact of these variables takes different patterns between the two models. The results are useful for further research in forecasting household savings as well as in micro finance to find a better way of serving people who live in rural areas.

Dynamic mechanism and present situation of rural settlement evolution in China

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the factors influencing the evolution of rural settlements, including natural environmental constraints, infrastructure, regional cultural inheritance and integration, urbanization and rural industrial transformation, land use reformation and innovation, rural household behavior conversion, macro-control policy factors, and so on. Based on differences between the ways and degree of effect on rural settlement evolution, these factors are classified into basic factors, new-type factors and mutation factors. The drive of basic factors mainly focuses on the traditional inheritance of rural settlements, the new-type factors mainly affect rural settlement transition, and the mutation factors may bring about sudden changes. All these factors constitute a “three-wheel” driving mechanism for the evolution of rural settlements, and shape three typical driver paths: slow smooth path under the basic factors, new path to rapid development under the new-type factors, and the sudden change path under the mutation factors. The paper also investigates the overall situation of rural settlement evolution in the aspects of settlement system, settlement scale, settlement morphology, settlement function, settlement culture, settlement environment, etc. The general process of rural settlement evolution is divided into four stages: initial, transitional, developmental, and mature stages.

Application of an almost ideal demand system (AIDS) to Ethiopian rural residential energy use: Panel data evidence

It is well known that poor rural households in low-income economies are reliant on traditional fuels to meet basic domestic energy needs, but little is known about the specific underlying socio-economic drivers of residential fuel choices in Ethiopia. I used the linear approximation almost ideal demand system (LAAIDS) with normalized prices to compute expenditure elasticity and a multinomial logit model (MLM) to examine household fuel use. The LAAIDS model result showed that expenditure was elastic for modern fuels, but inelastic for traditional fuels. Regression results from the MLM indicated that fuel choice behaviour of rural households could be more accurately described as ‘fuel stacking’ behaviour as opposed to the ‘energy ladder’ hypothesis. In rural areas household fuel choice may be constrained by limited access to commercial fuels and efficient cook stoves, supply dependency and affordability, consumer preferences and a web of other intricate factors. Rural households had less incentive for fuel switching due to underlying factors and the availability of fuel wood without direct financial cost. With continued deforestation and receding forests, households are expected to develop inter fuel substitution and switching behaviour conditional on access to modern energy technologies.

Livelihood diversification strategies in the Himalayas*

This article examines livelihood diversification strategies of rural households using survey data from the Himalayas. We present and explore an analytical framework that yields different activity choices as optimal solutions to a simple utility maximization problem. By classifying the range of activities of rural households into a few distinct categories based on their profitability and by considering portfolios of farm and non‐farm activities, we provide novel insights into diversification behaviour of rural households. The evidence shows that while the poor are mainly agricultural labourers and work in the low‐return non‐farm sector, the better‐off diversify in high‐return non‐farm activities. As expected, we find strong evidence that education plays a major role in accessing more remunerative non‐farm employment. A somewhat less intuitive finding is that larger household size is associated with higher probability of diversification into the high‐return non‐farm sector. The finding that the farm size is not a constraint to diversification in lucrative non‐farm employment is also surprising. Geographical location plays a role in diversification behaviour of rural households indicating the importance of local context.

Do Migrants Really Save More? Understanding the Impact of Remittances on Savings in Rural China

This article studies the impact of remittances on the savings behaviour of rural households in China, using a primary survey undertaken by the authors in 2006. Allowing for endogeneity and left-censoring of remittances, we find that the marginal propensity to save out of remittances is well below half of that out of other sources of incomes. Moreover, we find no evidence of any direct effect of remittances on either capital input or gross output of farm production. These findings are robust with respect to alternative definition of savings and are in line with recent studies which conclude that remittances are largely used for consumption purposes by rural Chinese households.

Saving Behavior of Rural Households in Kwara State, Nigeria

Savings are very imperative for supporting and developing rural enterprises. The inability of households to save over time can significantly influence the rate and sustainability of capital accumulation and economic growth in developing countries. This research therefore assessed the level of savings and its correlates in rural areas of Kwara state, Nigeria. Data were obtained using multi- stage sampling techniques and analyzed using descriptive statistics the tobit regression model. The result showed that rural enterpreneurs (81.0 percent) were mostly male-headed and the household heads (73.5 percent) that combine farming with other non-farm activities had higher income and savings compare to household heads with only one source of livelihood. Also, most household heads spent their income on food and majority (88.7 percent) save for investment purposes but their average monthly savings was less than five thousand naira. The result further showed age squared (p<0.10), farming experience (p<0.10) and diversification into non-farm activities (p<0.05) positively influence rural saving rate.

Rural livestock asset portfolio in northern Ethiopia: a microeconomic analysis of choice and accumulation

Livestock fulfill different functions. Depending on their livelihood strategies, households differ in their choice of what type of animal to keep and on accumulation of the chosen animal overtime. Using a panel data of 385 rural households in a mixed farming system in northern Ethiopia, this paper investigates the dynamic behavior of rural households' livestock holding to identify determinants of choice and accumulation of livestock overtime. Choice is analyzed for a principal animal, the animal that constituted the largest value of livestock assets a household possessed, using a multinomial logit model. Results indicate that rural households differ in their choice of what type of animal to keep. Agro-climatic conditions, sex and age of household head, presence of an adult male member in a household, and liquidity are the major factors that influence the type of principal animal households keep. Conditional on the principal animal selected, we analyzed the factors that determine the accumulation of the chosen animals by correcting for selection bias. Area of land cultivated is the most significant factor that explains the number of animals households keep. Other factors include sex of household head, diversification into nonfarm self-employment, and shocks.

Investment and Abandonment Behavior of Rural Households: An Empirical Investigation

This article uses models of irreversible investment under uncertainty to examine the investment and abandonment behavior of poor rural households. It considers the decision of Ugandan coffee‐farming households to invest in or abandon coffee trees. The observed levels of investment and abandonment are found to be consistent with models of investment that allow for irreversibility, uncertainty, fixed costs, and liquidity constraints. The findings highlight the importance of addressing volatility, irreversibility, fixed costs, and liquidity constraints in order to increase households’ responsiveness to changes in the fundamentals and to enable households to recover from shocks to their capital stock.

Household access to capital and its effects on drought adaptation and migration: a case study of rural Alberta in the 1930s

This article reports findings from an empirical study of the impacts of drought on rural households in southeastern Alberta, Canada during the 1930s. In that decade, extreme summer heat conditions and low precipitation levels led to repeated crop failures. These extreme climatic conditions coincided with economic recession, falling commodity prices, and rising unemployment to create widespread hardship and suffering across the rural population. Thousands of households adapted by leaving the drought-stricken region and migrating to more northerly regions unaffected by drought, often suffering still further hardship as they reestablished themselves in a new environment. Through secondary research of historical documents and interviews with surviving migrants and non-migrants, this study identifies how economic, human, and social capital influenced the adaptive capacity, adaptation decisions, and migration behavior of rural households and describes how institutional responses affected household adaptation. Differential access to capital in its various forms was a key factor that distinguished households that adapted via migration from those that did not. The findings from this study of historical environment-related population change provide insights that enhance our broader understanding of potential future migration responses to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change and important considerations for policy-makers and planners seeking to build adaptive capacity in rural populations.