Unrelated Probit Research Articles

Prevalence of obesity and risk of chronic diseases in the elderly: The case of Turke

Obesity is a major factor in the development of chronic diseases and can be influenced by some unobserved factors as well as genetic predisposition. Since obese older people are more likely to develop chronic diseases, a better understanding of the relationship between overweight/obesity and chronic diseases may help to reduce unnecessary morbidity and mortality. Using a Seemingly Unrelated probit approach for unobserved heterogeneity and probable endogeneity, this study investigates the empirical connection between obesity and chronic diseases in the elderly. Data from the Turkish Health Survey collected by the Turkish Statistical Institute in 2014, 2016, and 2019 were used for the analysis. The empirical results indicate that there are unmeasurable common factors that influence both overweight/obesity and chronic diseases, with overweight/obesity being an important determinant of chronic diseases along with some socioeconomic factors such as gender, physical inactivity, smoking, age, depression, etc. The findings suggest that health policies to reduce preventable morbidity and mortality should take into account unmeasurable genetic factors as well as psychological support to activate sedentary lifestyles in older people and prevent depression and feelings of worthlessness.

Individual-contextual determinants of entrepreneurial service provision in the platform-based collaborative economy

PurposeThis article examines the nature of service provision in the platform-based collaborative economy from the perspective of entrepreneurship theories. It departs from a knowledge gap about the individual and contextual determinants of service provision through digital platforms. By exploring these determinants for the service provision in two main sectors of the collaborative economy, transportation and accommodation, the study provides a first conceptual introduction of these activities and their nature for the existing entrepreneurship research.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based upon Eurobarometer microdata (2018), covering 28 European countries with about 27,000 observations, and uses a seemingly unrelated Probit model.FindingsThe likelihood of service provision through platforms in the collaborative economy is highest for individuals aged 25–34 years but decreases continuously with age. Occupation, sex and population density of the place of residence are other relevant determinants. By contrast, the regulatory system and GDP per capita of the region are not relevant.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings illuminate the under-studied individual and contextual determinants related to individuals engaging with entrepreneurial activities in the collaborative economy. Future research should investigate the role of previous self-employment, skills and spatial context.Practical implicationsThe collaborative economy is still a marginal sector in Europe that is likely to grow bigger. Particularly the young, highly educated entrepreneurial persons located in urban regions may spur this expected growth. Supporting policy measures aimed at this social stratum might foster digital entrepreneurship and contribute to growth in the digital economy.Originality/valueBy exploring the individual and contextual determinants for the service provision in the two main sectors of the platform-based collaborative economy, transportation and accommodation, the study provides a first conceptual introduction of these activities and their nature into existing entrepreneurship research.

Overweight/obesity risks and prevalence of diabetes and hypertension in North Eastern India: An analysis using seemingly unrelated probit model

ObjectiveIt would be reasonable to hypothesize that common unobserved factors, such as psychological stress and anxiety, as well as genetic and environmental factors, simultaneously influence the tendency for overweight or obesity and the prevalence of chronic disease. The paper tries to examine the joint influence of an individual's and socio-economic characteristics in determining overweight or obesity and chronic disease. MethodsThe sample comprised of 112,062 male and female participants age 15–49 years. For the simultaneous joint estimation approach we employ a seemingly unrelated probit model with and without control for endogeneity. ResultsThe non-zero correlation coefficient obtained from the analysis reveals that overweight or obesity is related to diabetes and hypertensions, indicating the existence of unmeasurable individual factors that commonly affect the propensity to diabetes and hypertension and overweight or obesity. A 10% increase in overweight and obesity causes increment of 4% in diabetes, 4.9% in hypertension. Further, among the overweight or obese individual, a 10% increase in overweight and obesity causes increment of 4.7% in diabetes, and 6.5% in hypertension in the study area. ConclusionThe study indicates presence of unobserved factors that simultaneously affect overweight/obesity and prevalence of both diabetes and hypertension. Policy and health promotion programme should also give special attention to the unmeasurable factors (for example: genetic factors, psychological stress and long working hour) that commonly influence the risk of overweight or obesity and chronic diseases.

Insights on Crash Injury Severity Control from Novice and Experienced Drivers: A Bivariate Random-Effects Probit Analysis

This study intended to investigate the crash injury severity from the insights of the novice and experienced drivers. To achieve this objective, a bivariate panel data probit model was initially proposed to account for the correlation between both time-specific and individual-specific error terms. The geocrash data of Las Vegas metropolitan area from 2014 to 2017 were collected. In order to estimate two (seemingly unrelated) nonlinear processes and to control for interrelations between the unobservables, the bivariate random-effects probit model was built up, in which injury severity levels of novice and experienced drivers were addressed by bivariate (seemingly unrelated) probit simultaneously, and the interrelations between the unobservables (i.e., heterogeneity issue) were accommodated by bivariate random-effects model. Results revealed that crash types, vehicle types of minor responsibility, pedestrians, and motorcyclists were potentially significant factors of injury severity for novice drivers, while crash types, driver condition of minor responsibility, first harm, and highway factor were significant for experienced drivers. The findings provide useful insights for practitioners to improve traffic safety levels of novice and experienced drivers.

COVID-19 Risk Perceptions and Social Distancing Practice in Latin America.

Many developing countries use social distancing as part of their mitigation strategy during epidemics. This study aimed to understand individual decisions to practice different social distancing measures in the immediate emergence of COVID-19. Utilizing social media advertising and snowball sampling, a web-based survey was administered in 16 Latin American countries. We estimated seemingly unrelated Probit models to identify factors associated with the decision to implement social distancing practices. From 5,480 respondents, estimated marginal effects indicate that risk perceptions are positively related to distancing from friends or relatives and avoiding public places but do not seem to influence the decision to stay home. Results also indicate that risk perceptions are related to household income, the number of reported COVID-19 cases in the country, and perceived preparedness of the health care system. Our findings support the notion that people will follow social distancing measures if there is a clear understanding of risk. Providing the public ways to access accurate numbers of confirmed cases can inform perception of disease severity. Since household income was a determinant of practicing social distancing, without financial assistance, some will be forced to break regulations in order to procure food or resources for their survival.

Mobile Technologies, Financial Inclusion, and Inclusive Growth in East Indonesia

This paper examines the influence of mobile technologies on financial inclusion, and the matter of whether mobile technologies and financial inclusion have an impact on the income of individuals in East Indonesia, considering the data from the Survey on Financial Inclusion and Access (SOFIA) in 2017. A seemingly unrelated probit model and an ordinary least-squares model are used to compare both determinants of formal and informal financial services, as well as simple and smart mobile technologies. The study finds that mobile technologies and access to finance significantly increase the likelihood of higher incomes. Smart technologies and formal finance have higher effects on incomes compared to the effects of simple devices or semi-formal and informal finance. Significant gaps in financial access exist between individuals in accordance with gender, income, education, and location. Technologies account for a small difference in the broader access to financial services.

Mobile Telephony, Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth

ABSTRACTThe paper employs the multipurpose nature of mobile telephony to investigate its welfare implications using a large sample of households in Ghana. We use seemingly unrelated probit and instrumental variable procedure to test for two related issues: First, we investigate whether mobile telephony promotes pro-poor development by helping households to efficiently allocate consumption and navigate out of poverty. Second, we analyze whether access to a broad array of financial services enhances the capacity of households to live worthwhile lives. The results show that mobile penetration and financial inclusion significantly reduce the probability of a household becoming poor and increase per capita household consumption of food and non-food items. Our results show that the welfare benefits of mobile telephony and financial inclusion are not more pronounced in female-headed households. These insights serve as useful guide for government and other stakeholders who are looking for avenues to improve livelihoods.

Interdependencies and sequential patterns in adoption of dairy technologies in Ethiopia

In this paper adoption of dairy technologies in the Ethiopian highlands was examine using seemingly unrelated multivariate probit model which encompasses the effects of interdependencies of multiple technologies and unobserved heterogeneity in a unified framework. Model estimates show that household's likelihood of adopting dairy technologies is jointly determined by the observed household characteristics as well as unobserved household level and contextual factors. Empirical results show strong evidence of interdependencies in adoption decisions of dairy technologies, largely accounted by omitted variables. Among explanatory variables, while household income is positively associated with adoption of crossbred dairy cows, the size of livestock holdings is negatively associated with adoption of crossbred dairy cows. Overall, the results of this study suggest that the challenge to foster large scale uptake of technologies and productivity growth in the dairy sector goes beyond addressing household-level factors and requires a better understanding of unobserved heterogeneity among farmers and contextual factors. Key words: Dairy, technology adoption, seemingly unrelated multivariate probit, heterogeneity.

Evidence of adverse selection in automobile insurance market: A seemingly unrelated probit modelling

The present paper investigates the adverse selection problem by examining the relationship between accident occurrences and deductible choice utilizing a seemingly unrelated probit model that allow...

An empirical analysis of household choices among water storage devices

This paper investigates factors underlying the household decision to utilize a variety of water storage devices in the small, poor municipality of San Lorenzo, Guatemala. Seemingly unrelated probit models were estimated to account for potential interdependence among different types of storage devices. Almost all sampled households store water at home in a variety of devices such as buckets, barrels, cisterns, and roof tanks. Estimation results indicate that the decision to use water storage devices is related to household income, and that the direction of income effects varies according to the type of storage device. On the other hand, water service interruptions were found statistically significant only for the household choice of using barrels. Findings also indicate that small devices (e.g. buckets) and barrels are used in a complementary fashion. In contrast, large devices (i.e. roof tanks and cisterns) are deemed substitutes for small devices and barrels.

Engaging in corruption: The influence of cultural values and contagion effects at the microlevel

Previous empirical work on corruption has generally been cross-country in nature and focused on utilizing country-level corruption ratings. By using micro-level data for over 20 European countries that directly measure individual characteristics, corruption experiences, gender roles, trust and values to examine the determinants of corruption, this paper goes beyond the search for associations between various macro factors and perceptions of corruption that is prevalent in the economic literature. One focus of the paper is on how cultural norms such as gender roles and risk preferences influence corruption and whether there are gender differences in the determinants of corruption. In addition, this paper also seeks to determine if there are contagion effects in corruption at the microlevel. Using a seemingly unrelated probit approach, this paper provides empirical estimates of how past experiences with corruption affects both how bribery is viewed and the actual act of offering a bribe.

The relationship between smoking, quitting smoking and obesity in Australia: a seemingly unrelated probit approach

Smoking and obesity are two leading causes of preventable death. Further understanding of the relationship between these two risk factors can assist in reducing avoidable morbidity and mortality. This study investigates the empirical association between obesity and the propensity to smoke and to quit smoking, using a Seemingly Unrelated (SUR) probit approach that takes into consideration the potential for reverse causality and unobserved heterogeneity. Using Australian health survey data, this article demonstrates the usefulness of the SUR probit approach in generating information on the relationship between unobserved factors influencing both smoking behaviour and obesity, and in providing estimates of the conditional probabilities of each risk factor. Results suggest the two risk factors are not independent. The presence, size and direction of correlation between the unobserved factors are found to vary by smoking behaviour and by gender. Estimates of conditional probabilities demonstrate smokers have a lower probability of obesity, particularly among females, and ex-smokers have a higher probability of obesity, particularly among males. These findings suggest that health policies targeted at one risk factor may have unintended implications for the other.

Engaging in Corruption: The Influence of Cultural Values and Contagion Effects at the Micro Level

Previous empirical work on corruption has generally been cross-country in nature and focused on utilizing country-level corruption ratings. By using micro-level data for over 20 European countries that directly measure individual characteristics, corruption experiences, gender roles, trust and values to examine the determinants of corruption, this paper goes beyond the search for associations between various macro factors and perceptions of corruption that is prevalent in the economic literature. One focus of the paper is on how cultural norms such as gender roles and risk preferences influence corruption and whether there are gender differences in the determinants of corruption. In addition, this paper also seeks to determine if there are contagion effects in corruption at the micro level. Using a seemingly unrelated probit approach, this paper provides empirical estimates of how past experiences with corruption affects both how bribery is viewed and the actual act of offering a bribe.

Analysis of Effects of Activities While Traveling on Travelers' Sentiment

Travel involves various onboard activities. The emergence of information and communication technologies (ICT) has added new dimensions to the activities. This study analyzed the effects of various onboard activities, including the use of ICT devices, on trip makers' feelings during trips. This study employed the daily reconstruction method to examine whether the feelings that trip makers had were positive or negative. In addition, the seemingly unrelated probit regression and univariate probit models were used to analyze the association between onboard feelings and types of onboard activities by travel mode. This study found that onboard activities using ICT devices were valued by trip makers and tended to have positive effects on their feelings during trips. However, it was also found that the effects were not homogenous. Emerging ICT-related onboard activities can be instrumental in improving people's travel experience and in encouraging automobile users to become transit riders.

Does expert trust and factual knowledge shape individual's perception of science?

AbstractExplaining how individuals form their risks and benefit perceptions with regard to new technologies is a key issue in order to understand how new information disseminates. This paper examines the effect of knowledge, social values and trust in experts as shaping perceptions of risks and benefits of new technologies. Given that individual's perceptions of a technology is affected by unobserved heterogeneity, we use a methodology to disentangle the effect of a joint estimation of risks and benefit perceptions, namely seemingly unrelated probit, and we draw upon evidence from a representative survey carried out in Spain. Our findings suggest that factual knowledge and trust in experts increase perceptions of benefit of new technology developments and jointly reduce the perceptions of risk. Furthermore, reliance on traditional social values only appears to affect perceptions of benefits but does not influence risk perceptions.

CIES Bibliography 2010

CIES Bibliography 2010

Does Fiscal Decentralisation Strengthen Social Capital? Cross-Country Evidence and the Experiences of Brazil and Indonesia

With this paper I test the hypothesis that, by giving people more voice in the government decision-making process, fiscal decentralisation fosters social capital, measured in terms of interpersonal trust. Empirical evidence based on World Values Survey data and seemingly unrelated probit estimations for a cross-section of countries suggests that people living in federal and decentralised countries find it more important to have a voice in government decisions than their counterparts living in unitary and centralised countries. Provoice attitudes are, in turn, associated with greater social capital. The cross-country estimations are complemented by country-specific regressions for Brazil and Indonesia on account of these countries' experiences with fiscal decentralisation. The results show that the cohorts of individuals that have been exposed to decentralisation are in general more provoice (and trustful of strangers in the case of Brazil) than their counterparts that have not been exposed to decentralisation. These findings are not driven by the effects of political liberalisation on people's attitudes towards the importance of having a voice in government decisions and interpersonal trust.

Joint estimation of fatal and injury crash models with controlling for contemporaneous correlation between the disturbance terms

Numerous crash prediction models have been developed using a variety of statistical methods to understand the relationships between crash occurrence and crash covariates. However, none of these models has considered contemporaneous correlation between the disturbance terms across crash models, hence resulting in the separate estimation of crash models. Neglecting contemporaneous correlation may yield consistent but inefficient estimators because the assumption that the disturbance terms are independent across equations is violated. This paper describes the development of crash outcome models to investigate the kinds of factor contributing to the likelihood of fatal and injury crashes occurring with a seemingly unrelated probit approach, which can account for the correlation between the disturbance terms. The results showed that two different crash severity outcomes such as fatal and injury crashes are contemporaneously correlated, and thus, crash prediction models for fatal and injury crashes should be simultaneously estimated to obtain more efficient estimators.

Selected To Go Where Murderers Lurk?

This study examines the preventive effect of peacekeeping on mass killings of civilians in intrastate conflicts. Peacekeepers may be sent to the most difficult conflicts. Control variables might capture the difficultness, for example, measures of the intensity of fighting.This is insufficient if there are factors that are difficult to pinpoint and measure that affect both the likelihood that peacekeepers are sent in and the risk of mass killings. Such unmeasured explanatory factors may bias our results.This paper applies a statistical technique, seemingly unrelated probit, that corrects for this problem and reveals a previously undetectable benign effect of peace keeping.

Support for state opting out and stateless national identity in the Basque Country

Preferences for state opting out are thought of as being the expression of underpinning conflicts of states national identity, empirical evidence on its underlying behavioural processes is scarce. This paper draws upon evidence form the Basque Country to examine the support for a hypothetical opting out from the Spanish State in the light of a reformulation of [Ackerlof, G.A., Kranton, R.E., 2000. Economics and Identity. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115, 715–753]. We use representative survey data from the Spanish Institute of Sociological Research for the Basque Country. To adjust our empirical specification to the prevalent hypothesis we employ a recursive seemingly unrelated probit approach. Our results suggest evidence for a simultaneous and endogenous influence of national identity on political preferences for the opting out of the Basque Country from Spain. We find evidence consistent with an instrumental conception of identity as motivating preferences for nation-state opting out, and status quo bias.