Traditional wealth, modern goods, and demographic behavior in rural Senegal

OpenAIRE

Garenne, Michel

2015-01-01

The study investigates the relationships of demographic indicators (fertility, mortality, marriage, education) with modern and traditional wealth in rural Senegal. Data were based on rural households interviewed in the 2011 DHS survey. An Absolute Wealth Index was computed from a list of 15 modern goods. A Traditional Wealth Index was computed from data on land and livestock per capita. Modern wealth was always associated with modern demographic behavior (lower fertility, lower mortality, hig...

The Relation Between Financial and Housing Wealth of Dutch Households

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hochgürtel, S.; van Soest, A.H.O.

1996-01-01

We analyze households' joint investment decisions for financial wealth and homes.In our bivariate censored regression model with endogenous switching, fixed costs or transaction costs are captured by a threshold that has to be passed before the purchase.The model allows for spill-over effects of a

Wealth index and maternal health care: Revisiting NFHS-3.

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Goel, Manish Kr; Roy, Pritam; Rasania, Sanjeev Kumar; Roy, Sakhi; Kumar, Yogesh; Kumar, Arun

2015-01-01

The third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) is a large dataset on indicators of family welfare, maternal and child health, and nutrition in India. This article using NFHS-3 data is an attempt to bring out the impact of economic status, i.e., the wealth index on maternal health. The study was based on an analysis of the NFHS-3 data. Independent variables taken were the wealth index, literacy, and age at first child birth. Effects of these variables on the maternal health care services were investigated. Out of the total 124,385 women aged 15-49 years included in the NFHS-3 dataset, 36,850 (29.6%) had one or more childbirth during the past 5 years. The number of antenatal care (ANC) visits increased as the wealth index increased and there was a pattern for choice of place of delivery (for all deliveries during the last 5 years) according to the wealth index. Logistic regression analysis of the abovementioned variables were sought to find out the independent role of key determinants of the different aspects of maternal health care. It showed that the wealth index is the leading key independent determinant for three or more ANC received: Tetanus toxoid (TT) received before delivery, iron tablet/syrup taken for more than 100 days, and institutional delivery. Mother's literacy was the leading independent key determinant for early antenatal registration. The study suggested that along with the mother's literacy, the wealth index that is an important predictor of maternal health care can be added for categorization of the districts for providing differential approach for maternal health care services.

The influence of economic development level, household wealth and maternal education on child health in the developing world.

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Boyle, Michael H; Racine, Yvonne; Georgiades, Katholiki; Snelling, Dana; Hong, Sungjin; Omariba, Walter; Hurley, Patricia; Rao-Melacini, Purnima

2006-10-01

This study estimates the relative importance to child health (indicated by weight and height for age) of economic development level [gross domestic product (GDP) converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates: GDP-PPP], household wealth and maternal education and examines the modifying influence of national contexts on these estimates. It uses information collected from mothers aged 15-49-years participating in Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in 42 developing countries. In multilevel regression models, the three study variables exhibited strong independent associations with child health: GDP-PPP accounted for the largest amount of unique variation, followed by maternal education and household wealth. There was also substantial overlap (shared variance) between maternal education and the other two study variables. The regressions of child health on household wealth and maternal education exhibited substantial cross-national variation in both strength and form of association. Although higher education levels were associated with disproportionately greater returns to child health, the pattern for household wealth was erratic: in many countries there were diminishing returns to child health at higher levels of household wealth. We conclude that there are inextricable links among different strategies for improving child health and that policy planners, associating benefits with these strategies, must take into account the strong moderating impact of national context.

The Relation Between Financial and Housing Wealth: Evidence from Dutch Households

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hochguertel, S.; van Soest, A.

2001-01-01

We analyze households' joint investment decisions for financial wealth and homes. We use a bivariate censored regression model with endogenous switching. Fixed costs or transaction costs are captured by an unobserved nonzero censoring threshold. The model allows for spillover effects of a binding

Effects of spatial location and household wealth on health insurance subscription among women in Ghana.

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Kumi-Kyereme, Akwasi; Amo-Adjei, Joshua

2013-06-17

This study compares ownership of health insurance among Ghanaian women with respect to wealth status and spatial location. We explore the overarching research question by employing geographic and proxy means targeting through interactive analysis of wealth status and spatial issues. The paper draws on the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. Bivariate descriptive analysis coupled with binary logistic regression estimation technique was used to analyse the data. By wealth status, the likelihood of purchasing insurance was significantly higher among respondents from the middle, richer and richest households compared to the poorest (reference category) and these differences widened more profoundly in the Northern areas after interacting wealth with zone of residence. Among women at the bottom of household wealth (poorest and poorer), there were no statistically significant differences in insurance subscription in all the areas. The results underscore the relevance of geographic and proxy means targeting in identifying populations who may be need of special interventions as part of the efforts to increase enrolment as well as means of social protection against the vulnerable.

Women's education level amplifies the effects of a livelihoods-based intervention on household wealth, child diet, and child growth in rural Nepal.

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Miller, Laurie C; Joshi, Neena; Lohani, Mahendra; Rogers, Beatrice; Mahato, Shubh; Ghosh, Shibani; Webb, Patrick

2017-10-18

Many organizations seek to alleviate poverty in the developing world, often focusing their interventions on women. The role, status, and education of women are fundamentally important facets of development. Thus, understanding the interaction of women's educational level and the response to interventions is important. Therefore, we examined the impact of educational level of household adults on responses to a livestock-based community intervention. Six pair-matched communities in 3 districts of Nepal (Chitwan/Nawalparasi/Nuwakot), were randomly assigned to receive community development activities via women's self-help groups at baseline or 1 year later. At 6 intervals over 48 months, a 125- item questionnaire addressing family demographics and child health/nutrition was completed in each household, plus child growth monitoring. Results were analyzed in relation to the highest education attained by any woman in the household, the child's mother, men, or any other adult in the household. Outcomes (wealth, water/toilet availability, child diet diversity and growth) all significantly related to adult education. However, notable differences were found comparing the impact of men's and women's education. Percent change in wealth score was significant only in households where women had primary or secondary education (respectively, p = .0009 and p wealth, and animal scores, higher women's education was significantly associated with increased household wealth (p wealth (p = .02) and child diet diversity (p = .04), but not HAZ; higher education of any household member was associated only with household wealth (p wealth, hygiene, and child diet and growth indices.

Household wealth inequality, entrepreneurs’ financial constraints, and the great recession: evidence from the Kauffman Firm Survey

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Braggion, F. (Fabio); Dwarkasing, M. (Mintra); S. Ongena (Steven)

2017-01-01

textabstractWe empirically test if household wealth inequality affects borrowing constraints of young entrepreneurs. We construct a measure of wealth inequality at the US county level based on the distribution of financial rents in 2004. We find that in more unequal areas, entrepreneurs are less

The associations of household wealth and income with self-rated health--a study on economic advantage in middle-aged Finnish men and women.

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Aittomäki, Akseli; Martikainen, Pekka; Laaksonen, Mikko; Lahelma, Eero; Rahkonen, Ossi

2010-09-01

The economic resources available to an individual or a household have been hypothesised to affect health through the direct material effects of living conditions as well as through social comparison and experiences of deprivation. The focus so far has been mainly on current individual or household income, and there is a lack of studies on wealth, a potentially relevant part of household resources. We studied the associations of household wealth and household income with self-rated health, and addressed some theoretical issues related to economic advantage and health. The data were from questionnaire survey of Finnish men and women aged from 45 to 67 years, who were employed by the City of Helsinki from five to seven years before the collection of the data in 2007. We found household wealth to have a strong and consistent association with self-rated health, poor health decreasing with increasing wealth. The relationship was only partly attributable to the association of wealth with employment status, household income, work conditions and health-related behaviour. In contrast, the association of household income with self-rated health was greatly attenuated by taking into account employment status and wealth, and even further attenuated by work conditions. The results suggested a significant contribution of wealth differentials to differences in health status. The insufficiency of current income as the only measure of material welfare was demonstrated. Conditions associated with long-term accumulation of material welfare may be a significant aspect of the causal processes that lead to socioeconomic inequalities in ill health. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Wealth Inequality and Mental Disability Among the Chinese Population: A Population Based Study

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Wang, Zhenjie; Du, Wei; Pang, Lihua; Zhang, Lei; Chen, Gong; Zheng, Xiaoying

2015-01-01

In the study described herein, we investigated and explored the association between wealth inequality and the risk of mental disability in the Chinese population. We used nationally represented, population-based data from the second China National Sample Survey on Disability, conducted in 2006. A total of 1,724,398 study subjects between the ages of 15 and 64, including 10,095 subjects with mental disability only, were used for the analysis. Wealth status was estimated by a wealth index that was derived from a principal component analysis of 10 household assets and four other variables related to wealth. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for mental disability for each category, with the lowest quintile category as the referent. Confounding variables under consideration were age, gender, residence area, marital status, ethnicity, education, current employment status, household size, house type, homeownership and living arrangement. The distribution of various types and severities of mental disability differed significantly by wealth index category in the present population. Wealth index category had a positive association with mild mental disability (p for trend wealth index category had a significant, inverse association with mental disability when all severities of mental disability were taken into consideration. This study’s results suggest that wealth is a significant factor in the distribution of mental disability and it might have different influences on various types and severities of mental disability. PMID:26492258

Comparison of physical, public and human assets as determinants of socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use in Colombia - moving beyond the household wealth index

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marmot Michael G

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Colombia is a lower-middle income country that faces the challenge of addressing health inequalities. This effort includes the task of developing measures of socioeconomic position (SEP to describe and analyse disparities in health and health related outcomes. This study explores the use of a multidimensional approach to SEP, in which socioeconomic inequalities in contraceptive use are investigated along multiple dimensions of SEP. We tested the hypothesis that provision of Public capital compensated for low levels of Human capital. Methods This study used the 2005 Colombian Demographic and Health Survey (DHS dataset. The outcome measures were 'current non-use' and 'never use' of contraception. Inequalities in contraceptive behaviour along four measures of SEP were compared: the Household wealth index (HWI, Physical capital (housing, consumer durables, Public capital (publicly provided services and Human capital (level of education. Principal component analysis was applied to construct the HWI, Physical capital and Public capital measures. Logistic regression models were used to estimate relative indices of inequality (RII for each measure of SEP with both outcomes. Results Socio-economic inequalities among rural women tended to be larger than those among urban women, for all measures of SEP and for both outcomes. In models mutually adjusted for Physical, Public and Human capital and age, Physical capital identified stronger gradients in contraceptive behaviour in urban and rural areas (Current use of contraception by Physical capital in urban areas RII 2.37 95% CI (1.99-2.83 and rural areas RII 3.70 (2.57-5.33. The impact of women's level of education on contraceptive behaviour was relatively weak in households with high Public capital compared to households with low Public capital (Current use of contraception in rural areas, interaction p = Conclusions A multidimensional approach provides a framework for disentangling

Liquidity Constraints, Household Wealth, and Entrepreneurship

OpenAIRE

Erik Hurst; Annamaria Lusardi

2004-01-01

The propensity to become a business owner is a nonlinear function of wealth. The relationship between wealth and entry into entrepreneurship is essentially flat over the majority of the wealth distribution. It is only at the top of the wealth distributionafter the ninety-fifth percentilethat a positive relationship can be found. Segmenting businesses into industries with high and lowstarting capital requirements, we find no evidence that wealth matters more for businesses requiring higher ini...

Liquidity Constraints, Household Wealth, and Entrepreneurship.

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Hurst, Erik; Lusardi, Annamaria

2004-01-01

The propensity to become a business owner is a nonlinear function of wealth. The relationship between wealth and entry into entrepreneurship is essentially flat over the majority of the wealth distribution. It is only at the top of the wealth distribution--after the ninety-fifth percentile--that a positive relationship can be found. Segmenting…

Wealth Inequality and Mental Disability Among the Chinese Population: A Population Based Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhenjie; Du, Wei; Pang, Lihua; Zhang, Lei; Chen, Gong; Zheng, Xiaoying

2015-10-19

In the study described herein, we investigated and explored the association between wealth inequality and the risk of mental disability in the Chinese population. We used nationally represented, population-based data from the second China National Sample Survey on Disability, conducted in 2006. A total of 1,724,398 study subjects between the ages of 15 and 64, including 10,095 subjects with mental disability only, were used for the analysis. Wealth status was estimated by a wealth index that was derived from a principal component analysis of 10 household assets and four other variables related to wealth. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for mental disability for each category, with the lowest quintile category as the referent. Confounding variables under consideration were age, gender, residence area, marital status, ethnicity, education, current employment status, household size, house type, homeownership and living arrangement. The distribution of various types and severities of mental disability differed significantly by wealth index category in the present population. Wealth index category had a positive association with mild mental disability (p for trend disability (p for trend disability when all severities of mental disability were taken into consideration. This study's results suggest that wealth is a significant factor in the distribution of mental disability and it might have different influences on various types and severities of mental disability.

Associations Between Orphan and Vulnerable Child Caregiving, Household Wealth Disparities, and Women's Overweight Status in Three Southern African Countries Participating in Demographic Health Surveys.

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Kanamori, Mariano J; Carter-Pokras, Olivia D; Madhavan, Sangeetha; Lee, Sunmin; He, Xin; Feldman, Robert H

2015-08-01

This study examines whether orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) primary caregivers are facing absolute household wealth (AWI) disparities, the association between AWI and women's overweight status, and the modifying role of OVC primary caregiving status on this relationship. Demographic Health Surveys data (2006-2007) from 20 to 49 year old women in Namibia (n = 6,305), Swaziland (n = 2,786), and Zambia (n = 4,389) were analyzed using weighted marginal means and logistic regressions. OVC primary caregivers in Namibia and Swaziland had a lower mean AWI than other women in the same country. In Zambia, OVC primary caregivers had a lower mean AWI score than non-primary caregivers living with an OVC but a higher mean AWI score than non-OVC primary caregivers. In Swaziland and Zambia, even small increases in household wealth were associated with higher odds for being overweight regardless of women's caregiving status. Only in Namibia, OVC primary caregiving modified the effect of the previous association. Among Namibian OVC primary caregivers, women who had at least medium household wealth (4 or more AWI items) were more likely to be overweight than their poorest counterparts (0 or 1 AWI items). OVC primary caregivers are facing household wealth disparities as compared to other women from their communities. Future studies/interventions should consider using population-based approaches to reach women from every household wealth level to curb overweight in Swaziland and Zambia and to focus on specific household wealth characteristics that are associated with OVC primary caregivers' overweight status in Namibia.

Economic inequality and undernutrition in women: multilevel analysis of individual, household, and community levels in Cambodia.

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Hong, Rathavuth; Hong, Rathmony

2007-03-01

Many people in developing countries are still struggling to emerge from the realm of extreme poverty, where economic improvements tend to benefit a small, affluent group of the population and cause growing inequality in health and nutrition that affects the most vulnerable groups of the population, including women and children. To examine how household and community economic inequality affects nutritional status in women using information on 6,922 nonpregnant women aged 15 to 49 years included in the 2000 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey. Nutritional status is defined with the use of the body-mass index (BMI). BMI less than 18.5 kg/m2 is defined as undernourishment. The household wealth index was calculated from household ownership of durable assets and household characteristics. Community wealth is an average household wealth index at the community level. Household and community economic inequalities were measured by dividing the wealth index into quintiles. The effects of household and community economic inequality were estimated by multilevel analysis. Independently of community economic status and other risk factors, women in the poorest 20% of households are more likely to be undernourished than women in the richest 20% of households (RR = 1.63; p = .008). The results also show variation among communities in the nutritional status of women. Age, occupation, and access to safe sources of drinking water are significantly associated with women's nutritional status. Improving household income and creating employment opportunities for women, in particular poor women, may be a key to improving the nutritional status of women in Cambodia.

Effect of national wealth on BMI: An analysis of 206,266 individuals in 70 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Masood

Full Text Available This study explores the relationship between BMI and national-wealth and the cross-level interaction effect of national-wealth and individual household-wealth using multilevel analysis.Data from the World Health Survey conducted in 2002-2004, across 70 low-, middle- and high-income countries was used. Participants aged 18 years and over were selected using multistage, stratified cluster sampling. BMI was used as outcome variable. The potential determinants of individual-level BMI were participants' sex, age, marital-status, education, occupation, household-wealth and location(rural/urban at the individual-level. The country-level factors used were average national income (GNI-PPP and income inequality (Gini-index. A two-level random-intercepts and fixed-slopes model structure with individuals nested within countries was fitted, treating BMI as a continuous outcome.The weighted mean BMI and standard-error of the 206,266 people from 70-countries was 23.90 (4.84. All the low-income countries were below the 25.0 mean BMI level and most of the high-income countries were above. All wealthier quintiles of household-wealth had higher scores in BMI than lowest quintile. Each USD10000 increase in GNI-PPP was associated with a 0.4 unit increase in BMI. The Gini-index was not associated with BMI. All these variables explained 28.1% of country-level, 4.9% of individual-level and 7.7% of total variance in BMI. The cross-level interaction effect between GNI-PPP and household-wealth was significant. BMI increased as the GNI-PPP increased in first four quintiles of household-wealth. However, the BMI of the wealthiest people decreased as the GNI-PPP increased.Both individual-level and country-level factors made an independent contribution to the BMI of the people. Household-wealth and national-income had significant interaction effects.

Effect of national wealth on BMI: An analysis of 206,266 individuals in 70 low-, middle- and high-income countries

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Reidpath, Daniel D.

2017-01-01

Background This study explores the relationship between BMI and national-wealth and the cross-level interaction effect of national-wealth and individual household-wealth using multilevel analysis. Methods Data from the World Health Survey conducted in 2002–2004, across 70 low-, middle- and high-income countries was used. Participants aged 18 years and over were selected using multistage, stratified cluster sampling. BMI was used as outcome variable. The potential determinants of individual-level BMI were participants’ sex, age, marital-status, education, occupation, household-wealth and location(rural/urban) at the individual-level. The country-level factors used were average national income (GNI-PPP) and income inequality (Gini-index). A two-level random-intercepts and fixed-slopes model structure with individuals nested within countries was fitted, treating BMI as a continuous outcome. Results The weighted mean BMI and standard-error of the 206,266 people from 70-countries was 23.90 (4.84). All the low-income countries were below the 25.0 mean BMI level and most of the high-income countries were above. All wealthier quintiles of household-wealth had higher scores in BMI than lowest quintile. Each USD10000 increase in GNI-PPP was associated with a 0.4 unit increase in BMI. The Gini-index was not associated with BMI. All these variables explained 28.1% of country-level, 4.9% of individual-level and 7.7% of total variance in BMI. The cross-level interaction effect between GNI-PPP and household-wealth was significant. BMI increased as the GNI-PPP increased in first four quintiles of household-wealth. However, the BMI of the wealthiest people decreased as the GNI-PPP increased. Conclusion Both individual-level and country-level factors made an independent contribution to the BMI of the people. Household-wealth and national-income had significant interaction effects. PMID:28662041

Children and the Elderly: Wealth Inequality Among America's Dependents.

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Gibson-Davis, Christina M; Percheski, Christine

2018-05-07

Life cycle theory predicts that elderly households have higher levels of wealth than households with children, but these wealth gaps are likely dynamic, responding to changes in labor market conditions, patterns of debt accumulation, and the overall economic context. Using Survey of Consumer Finances data from 1989 through 2013, we compare wealth levels between and within the two groups that make up America's dependents: the elderly and child households (households with a resident child aged 18 or younger). Over the observed period, the absolute wealth gap between elderly and child households in the United States increased substantially, and diverging trends in wealth accumulation exacerbated preexisting between-group disparities. Widening gaps were particularly pronounced among the least-wealthy elderly and child households. Differential demographic change in marital status and racial composition by subgroup do not explain the widening gap. We also find increasing wealth inequality within child households and the rise of a "parental 1 %." During a time of overall economic growth, the elderly have been able to maintain or increase their wealth, whereas many of the least-wealthy child households saw precipitous declines. Our findings suggest that many child households may lack sufficient assets to promote the successful flourishing of the next generation.

The Marriage Wealth Premium Revisited: Gender Disparities and Within-Individual Changes in Personal Wealth in Germany.

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Lersch, Philipp M

2017-06-01

This study examines the association between marriage and economic wealth of women and men. Going beyond previous research that focused on household wealth, I examine personal wealth, which allows identifying gender disparities in the association between marriage and wealth. Using unique data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2002, 2007, and 2012), I apply random-effects and fixed-effects regression models to test my expectations. I find that both women and men experience substantial marriage wealth premiums not only in household wealth but also in personal wealth. However, I do not find consistent evidence for gender disparities in these general marriage premiums. Additional analyses indicate, however, that women's marriage premiums are substantially lower than men's premiums in older cohorts and when only nonhousing wealth is considered. Overall, this study provides new evidence that women and men gain unequally in their wealth attainment through marriage.

Wealth, income, and health before and after retirement.

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Geyer, Siegfried; Spreckelsen, Ove; von dem Knesebeck, Olaf

2014-11-01

It was supposed that associations of wealth and health might be higher after retirement than in the economically active periods of life, but no comparisons were available. Most studies on wealth were based on net worth, a measure combining several elements of wealth into an index. We examined associations between different elements of wealth and health by comparing retired women and men with economically active ones. Data were drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel, a nationwide longitudinal survey project. Two waves (2002 and 2007) included indicators of wealth in addition to household income and education. Wealth was not depicted by an index. Instead, debts, property of life insurances, home ownership and assets were considered separately with their associations with self-rated health. Two data sets were used to examine whether the results were occasional, or whether they can be replicated. Associations of income and education emerged in respondents in their active periods of life. In most cases indicators of wealth were associated with subjective health. In retired respondents home ownership was the only indicator yielding consistent associations with health, but their sizes turned out as rather moderate. Contrary to expectation, the associations of wealth and health were inconsistent in the retired study population. These results were obtained in a country with national pension schemes, and it has to be examined whether the findings can be generalised to other countries. The inconsistent findings of indicators of wealth are calling the utility of net worth into question. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Racial gaps in child health insurance coverage in four South American countries: the role of wealth, human capital, and other household characteristics.

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Wehby, George L; Murray, Jeffrey C; McCarthy, Ann Marie; Castilla, Eduardo E

2011-12-01

OBJECTIVE. To evaluate the extent of racial gaps in child health insurance coverage in South America and study the contribution of wealth, human capital, and other household characteristics to accounting for racial disparities in insurance coverage. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING. Primary data collected between 2005 and 2006 in 30 pediatric practices in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Chile. DESIGN. Country-specific regression models are used to assess differences in insurance coverage by race. A decomposition model is used to quantify the extent to which wealth, human capital, and other household characteristics account for racial disparities in insurance coverage. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS. In-person interviews were conducted with the mothers of 2,365 children. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. The majority of children have no insurance coverage except in Chile. Large racial disparities in insurance coverage are observed. Household wealth is the single most important household-level factor accounting for racial disparities in coverage and is significantly and positively associated with coverage, followed by maternal education and employment/occupational status. Geographic differences account for the largest part of racial disparities in insurance coverage in Argentina and Ecuador. CONCLUSIONS. Increasing the coverage of children in less affluent families is important for reducing racial gaps in health insurance coverage in the study countries. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Financial Literacy, Retirement Planning and Household Wealth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Rooij, Maarten C. J.; Lusardi, Annamaria; Alessie, Rob J. M.

Relying on comprehensive measures of financial knowledge, we provide evidence of a strong positive association between financial literacy and net worth, even after controlling for many determinants of wealth. We discuss two channels through which financial literacy might facilitate wealth

The poorest of the poor: a poverty appraisal of households affected by visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India.

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Boelaert, M; Meheus, F; Sanchez, A; Singh, S P; Vanlerberghe, V; Picado, A; Meessen, B; Sundar, S

2009-06-01

To provide data about wealth distribution in visceral leishmaniasis (VL)-affected communities compared to that of the general population of Bihar State, India. After extensive disease risk mapping, 16 clusters with high VL transmission were selected in Bihar. An exhaustive census of all households in the clusters was conducted and socio-economic household characteristics were documented by questionnaire. Data on the general Bihar population taken from the National Family Health Survey of India were used for comparison. An asset index was developed based on Principal Components Analysis and the distribution of this asset index for the VL communities was compared with that of the general population of Bihar. 83% of households in communities with high VL attack rates belonged to the two lowest quintiles of the Bihar wealth distribution. All socio-economic indicators showed significantly lower wealth for those households. Visceral leishmaniasis clearly affects the poorest of the poor in India. They are most vulnerable, as this vector-born disease is linked to poor housing and unhealthy habitats. The disease leads the affected households to more destitution because of its impact on household income and wealth. Support for the present VL elimination initiative is important in the fight against poverty.

Wealth Accumulation and Factors Accounting for Success.

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Pawasutipaisit, Anan; Townsend, Robert M

2011-03-01

We use detailed income, balance sheet, and cash flow statements constructed for households in a long monthly panel in an emerging market economy, and some recent contributions in economic theory, to document and better understand the factors underlying success in achieving upward mobility in the distribution of net worth. Wealth inequality is decreasing over time, and many households work their way out of poverty and lower wealth over the seven year period. The accounts establish that, mechanically, this is largely due to savings rather than incoming gifts and remittances. In turn, the growth of net worth can be decomposed household by household into the savings rate and how productively that savings is used, the return on assets (ROA). The latter plays the larger role. ROA is, in turn, positively correlated with higher education of household members, younger age of the head, and with a higher debt/asset ratio and lower initial wealth, so it seems from cross-sections that the financial system is imperfectly channeling resources to productive and poor households. Household fixed effects account for the larger part of ROA, and this success is largely persistent, undercutting the story that successful entrepreneurs are those that simply get lucky. Persistence does vary across households, and in at least one province with much change and increasing opportunities, ROA changes as households move over time to higher-return occupations. But for those households with high and persistent ROA, the savings rate is higher, consistent with some micro founded macro models with imperfect credit markets. Indeed, high ROA households save by investing in their own enterprises and adopt consistent financial strategies for smoothing fluctuations. More generally growth of wealth, savings levels and/or rates are correlated with TFP and the household fixed effects that are the larger part of ROA.

Wealth Transmission and Inequality Among Hunter-Gatherers

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Hill, Kim; Marlowe, Frank; Nolin, David; Wiessner, Polly; Gurven, Michael; Bowles, Samuel; Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff; Hertz, Tom; Bell, Adrian

2010-01-01

We report quantitative estimates of intergenerational transmission and population-wide inequality for wealth measures in a set of hunter-gatherer populations. Wealth is defined broadly as factors that contribute to individual or household well-being, ranging from embodied forms such as weight and hunting success to material forms such household goods, as well as relational wealth in exchange partners. Intergenerational wealth transmission is low to moderate in these populations, but is still expected to have measurable influence on an individual’s life chances. Wealth inequality (measured with Gini coefficients) is moderate for most wealth types, matching what qualitative ethnographic research has generally indicated (if not the stereotype of hunter-gatherers as extreme egalitarians). We discuss some plausible mechanisms for these patterns, and suggest ways in which future research could resolve questions about the role of wealth in hunter-gatherer social and economic life. PMID:21151711

An association between neighbourhood wealth inequality and HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Brodish, Paul Henry

2015-05-01

This paper investigates whether community-level wealth inequality predicts HIV serostatus using DHS household survey and HIV biomarker data for men and women ages 15-59 pooled from six sub-Saharan African countries with HIV prevalence rates exceeding 5%. The analysis relates the binary dependent variable HIV-positive serostatus and two weighted aggregate predictors generated from the DHS Wealth Index: the Gini coefficient, and the ratio of the wealth of households in the top 20% wealth quintile to that of those in the bottom 20%. In separate multilevel logistic regression models, wealth inequality is used to predict HIV prevalence within each statistical enumeration area, controlling for known individual-level demographic predictors of HIV serostatus. Potential individual-level sexual behaviour mediating variables are added to assess attenuation, and ordered logit models investigate whether the effect is mediated through extramarital sexual partnerships. Both the cluster-level wealth Gini coefficient and wealth ratio significantly predict positive HIV serostatus: a 1 point increase in the cluster-level Gini coefficient and in the cluster-level wealth ratio is associated with a 2.35 and 1.3 times increased likelihood of being HIV positive, respectively, controlling for individual-level demographic predictors, and associations are stronger in models including only males. Adding sexual behaviour variables attenuates the effects of both inequality measures. Reporting eleven plus lifetime sexual partners increases the odds of being HIV positive over five-fold. The likelihood of having more extramarital partners is significantly higher in clusters with greater wealth inequality measured by the wealth ratio. Disaggregating logit models by sex indicates important risk behaviour differences. Household wealth inequality within DHS clusters predicts HIV serostatus, and the relationship is partially mediated by more extramarital partners. These results emphasize the importance

Interaction between Education and Household Wealth on the Risk of Obesity in Women in Egypt

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Aitsi-Selmi, Amina; Chandola, Tarani; Friel, Sharon; Nouraei, Reza; Shipley, Martin J.; Marmot, Michael G.

2012-01-01

Background Obesity is a growing problem in lower income countries particularly among women. There are few studies exploring individual socioeconomic status indicators in depth. This study examines the interaction of education and wealth in relation to obesity, hypothesising that education protects against the obesogenic effect of wealth. Methods Four datasets of women of reproductive age from the Egyptian Demographic and Health Surveys spanning the period 1992–2008 are used to examine two distinct time periods: 1992/95 (N = 11097) and 2005/08 (N = 23178). The association in the two time periods between education level and household wealth in relation to the odds of being obese is examined, and the interaction between the two socioeconomic indicators investigated. Estimates are adjusted for age group and area of residence. Results An interaction was found between the association of education and wealth with obesity in both time periods (P-value for interaction wealth quintile was associated with a 78% increase in the odds of obesity in 1992/95 (OR; 95%CI: 1.78; 1.65,1.91) and a 33% increase in 2005/08 (OR; 95%CI: 1.33; 1.26,1.39). For women with the highest level of education, there was little evidence of an association between wealth and obesity (OR; 95%CI: 0.82; 0.57,1.16 in 1992/95 and 0.95; 0.84,1.08 in 2005/08). Obesity levels increased most in women who were in the no/primary education, poorest wealth quintile and rural groups (absolute difference in prevalence percentage points between the two time periods: 20.2, 20.1, and 21.3 respectively). Conclusion In the present study, wealth appears to be a risk factor for obesity in women with lower education levels, while women with higher education are protected. The findings also suggest that a reversal in the social distribution of obesity risk is occurring which can be explained by the large increase in obesity levels in lower socioeconomic groups between the two time periods. PMID:22761807

Health and wealth in Uzbekistan and sub-Saharan Africa in comparative perspective.

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Hohmann, Sophie; Garenne, Michel

2010-12-01

The study investigates the magnitude of differences in child and adult mortality by wealth in Uzbekistan, a former soviet country of Central Asia, and compares it with similar indicators from sub-Saharan Africa. Data were derived from Demographic and Health Surveys. An "Absolute Wealth Index" was built from data on goods owned by households and quality of housing, and scaled from 0 to 12. Wealth was distributed evenly in Uzbekistan, with a symmetric distribution around a mean of 5.5 modern goods. In sub-Saharan Africa, on the contrary, the wealth distribution had a lower mean (2.5) and was highly skewed towards the left, revealing a high proportion of very poor people. Adult and child mortality levels were lower in Uzbekistan. Despite these major differences, the relationships between mortality indicators and the wealth index were similar in the two cases. The magnitude of mortality differentials by wealth was of the same order in both cases, with gradients ranging from 2.5 to 1 for child mortality and 1.5 to 1 for adult mortality (poorest versus richest). However, mortality levels remained lower in Uzbekistan than in sub-Saharan Africa at the same level of wealth for both children and adults. A similar relationship was found between nutritional status and wealth index in both cases. On the contrary, there were no differences by wealth in use of health services and level of education in Uzbekistan, whereas wealth gradients were steep for the same variables in sub-Saharan Africa. The study suggests that mortality differentials were primarily due to nutritional status, and not to access and use of health services or to education. The discussion focuses on health and social policies during the colonial and post-colonial period that have produced these patterns. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Income and Wealth Inequality in America, 1949-2013

OpenAIRE

Kuhn, Moritz; Schularick, Moritz; Steins, Ulrike I.

2017-01-01

This paper studies the distribution of U.S. household income and wealth over the past seven decades. We introduce a newly compiled household-level dataset based on archival data from historical waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). Complementing recent work on top income and wealth shares, the long-run survey data give a granular picture of trends in the bottom 90% of the population. The new data confirm a substantial widening of income and wealth disparities since the 1970s. We sho...

Analyzing the mobile "digital divide": changing determinants of household phone ownership over time in rural bangladesh.

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Tran, Michael Clifton; Labrique, Alain Bernard; Mehra, Sucheta; Ali, Hasmot; Shaikh, Saijuddin; Mitra, Maithilee; Christian, Parul; West, Keith

2015-02-25

We had a unique opportunity to examine demographic determinants of household mobile phone ownership in rural Bangladesh using socioeconomic data collected as part of a multiyear longitudinal cohort study of married women of reproductive age. This paper explores how the demographics of household mobile phone owners have changed over time in a representative population of rural Bangladesh. We present data collected between 2008 and 2011 on household mobile phone ownership and related characteristics including age, literacy, education, employment, electricity access, and household wealth among 35,306 individuals. Respondents were enrolled when found to be newly pregnant and contributed socioeconomic information once over the course of the time period serving as a "sample" of families within the population at that time. Univariate and multiple logistic regressions analyses were performed to identify the socioeconomic determinants of household phone ownership. Across 3 fiscal years, we found that reported household ownership of at least 1 working mobile phone grew from 29.85% in the first fiscal year to 56.07% in the third fiscal year. Illiteracy, unavailability of electricity, and low quartiles of wealth were identified as overall demographic constraints to mobile phone ownership. However, over time, these barriers became less evident and equity gaps among demographic status began to dissipate as access to mobile technology became more democratized. We saw a high growth rate in ownership among households in lower economic standing (illiterate, without electricity, low and lowest wealth index), likely a result of competitive pricing and innovative service packages that improve access to mobile phones as the mobile phone market matures. In contrast, as market saturation is rapidly attained in the most privileged demographics (literate, secondary schooling, electricity, high wealth index), members of the lower wealth quartiles seem to be following suit, with more of an

Immigrants in the one percent: The national origin of top wealth owners.

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Keister, Lisa A; Aronson, Brian

2017-01-01

Economic inequality in the United States is extreme, but little is known about the national origin of affluent households. Households in the top one percent by total wealth own vastly disproportionate quantities of household assets and have correspondingly high levels of economic, social, and political influence. The overrepresentation of white natives (i.e., those born in the U.S.) among high-wealth households is well-documented, but changing migration dynamics suggest that a growing portion of top households may be immigrants. Because no single survey dataset contains top wealth holders and data about country of origin, this paper uses two publicly-available data sets: the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Multiple imputation is used to impute country of birth from the SIPP into the SCF. Descriptive statistics are used to demonstrate reliability of the method, to estimate the prevalence of immigrants among top wealth holders, and to document patterns of asset ownership among affluent immigrants. Significant numbers of top wealth holders who are usually classified as white natives may be immigrants. Many top wealth holders appear to be European and Canadian immigrants, and increasing numbers of top wealth holders are likely from Asia and Latin America as well. Results suggest that of those in the top one percent of wealth holders, approximately 3% are European and Canadian immigrants, .5% are from Mexico or Cuban, and 1.7% are from Asia (especially Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and India). Ownership of key assets varies considerably across affluent immigrant groups. Although the percentage of top wealth holders who are immigrants is relatively small, these percentages represent large numbers of households with considerable resources and corresponding social and political influence. Evidence that the propensity to allocate wealth to real and financial assets varies across immigrant groups suggests that

Income, Wealth and Consumption of Cross-Border Commuters to Luxembourg

OpenAIRE

Thomas Y. Mathä; Alessandro Porpiglia; Michael Ziegelmeyer

2012-01-01

Exceeding 40% of domestic employment cross-border commuters are extremely important to Luxembourg's economy and labour market in general. This paper presents unique information on their income, wealth and consumption using representative survey data from cross-border commuter households to Luxembourg. The estimated average total net wealth of cross-border commuter households is about EUR 240,000, which falls substantially short of comparable estimates for Luxembourg resident households exceed...

Analyzing the Mobile “Digital Divide”: Changing Determinants of Household Phone Ownership Over Time in Rural Bangladesh

Science.gov (United States)

Mehra, Sucheta; Ali, Hasmot; Shaikh, Saijuddin; Mitra, Maithilee; Christian, Parul; West Jr, Keith

2015-01-01

Background We had a unique opportunity to examine demographic determinants of household mobile phone ownership in rural Bangladesh using socioeconomic data collected as part of a multiyear longitudinal cohort study of married women of reproductive age. Objectives This paper explores how the demographics of household mobile phone owners have changed over time in a representative population of rural Bangladesh. Methods We present data collected between 2008 and 2011 on household mobile phone ownership and related characteristics including age, literacy, education, employment, electricity access, and household wealth among 35,306 individuals. Respondents were enrolled when found to be newly pregnant and contributed socioeconomic information once over the course of the time period serving as a “sample” of families within the population at that time. Univariate and multiple logistic regressions analyses were performed to identify the socioeconomic determinants of household phone ownership. Results Across 3 fiscal years, we found that reported household ownership of at least 1 working mobile phone grew from 29.85% in the first fiscal year to 56.07% in the third fiscal year. Illiteracy, unavailability of electricity, and low quartiles of wealth were identified as overall demographic constraints to mobile phone ownership. However, over time, these barriers became less evident and equity gaps among demographic status began to dissipate as access to mobile technology became more democratized. We saw a high growth rate in ownership among households in lower economic standing (illiterate, without electricity, low and lowest wealth index), likely a result of competitive pricing and innovative service packages that improve access to mobile phones as the mobile phone market matures. In contrast, as market saturation is rapidly attained in the most privileged demographics (literate, secondary schooling, electricity, high wealth index), members of the lower wealth quartiles

Applying Contingent Valuation Method for Economic Valuation of Awqaf Wealth Management in Welfare Changes of Muslim Households in

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Sarabdeen Masahina

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Objective- The main objective of this study is to estimate the Willingness to Pay of the Muslim households to contribute cash waqf as a strategy towards wealth management in Sri Lanka. Waqf is holding or confinement which is emphasised in Islam as ibadah as it can distribute the wealth among the Muslim society and would help to develop the Islamic vision of brotherhood.Method- Contingent valuation method is used to estimate the Willingness to Pay of Muslim households to improve socio-economic status of the low income people through waqf wealth management in Sri Lanka. This study is developed based on Random Utility Theory.Result- This paper identifies the appropriate methods to estimate the willingness to pay of Muslim households in Sri Lanka for waqf (awqaf is plural institutions. Such evaluations are crucial for the Islamic financial system to function effectively in order to achieve the dignified objectives of socio-economic justice through proper distribution of wealth.Conclusion-This paper presents a conceptual model of waqf institutions which would be useful for further empirical research in this area. The findings are not only appropriate and applicable to Sri Lanka but also to other Muslim and non-Muslim countries. This is a unique contribution to the Islamic economic literature. The knowledge obtained from this study hopes to propose cash waqf to manage the wealth in order to improve the socio-economic status of low income people in Sri Lanka.Tujuan - Tujuan utama dari penelitian ini adalah untuk memperkirakan Kemauan Membayar rumah tangga Muslim untuk berkontribusi wakaf tunai sebagai strategi menuju pengelolaan kekayaan di Sri Lanka. Wakaf secara bahasa menahan (harta yang ditekankan dalam Islam sebagai ibadah karena dapat mendistribusikan kekayaan di antara masyarakat Muslim dan akan membantu untuk mengembangkan visi Islam yaitu persaudaraan.Metode - Metode penilaian Kontingensi digunakan untuk memperkirakan Kesediaan membayar rumah

Wealth, household heterogeneity and livelihood diversification of Fulani pastoralists in the Kachia Grazing Reserve, northern Nigeria, during a period of social transition.

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Marie J Ducrotoy

Full Text Available A mixed methods study was undertaken in the Kachia Grazing Reserve of northern Nigeria. Surveys in March, June and October 2011 included focus group discussions, key informant and in-depth household interviews, concerning livelihood practices, animal health, ownership, and productivity. In May 2011, 249 Fulani families fleeing post-election violence entered the reserve with their livestock, increasing the number of households by one third.Despite being settled within a grazing reserve, over half of households sent all their cattle away on seasonal transhumance and another third sent some away. Cattle accounted for 96% of total tropical livestock units (TLU, of which 26% were cattle kept permanently outside the reserve. While all households cited livestock as their main source of income, 90% grew crops and 55% derived income from off-farm activities. A multiple correspondence analysis showed that for each extra member of a household its TLU value increased by 2.0 [95% CI, 1.4-2.7], while for each additional marriage its TLU increased by 15.7 [95% CI, 7.1-24.3]. A strong association was also observed between small herds, small households with only one wife, alongside marked geographical wealth differences within the reserve. New immigrant families had larger household sizes (33 and livestock holdings (122 TLU than old settlers (22 people and 67 TLU. Prior to the mass immigration, the distribution of TLU per person was unimodal: 41% of households were classified as 'poor' and 27% as 'medium', whereas post-immigration it was bi-modal, with 26% classified as 'very poor' and 28% as 'medium'.While cattle remain the principal source of Fulani income and wealth, the inhabitants of Kachia Grazing Reserve have diversified their livelihood strategies to respond to changing circumstances and stress, especially the limited availability of grazing within the reserve and political insecurity outside, resulting in continued transhumance, the maintenance of

Why do households invest in sanitation in rural Benin: Health, wealth, or prestige?

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Gross, Elena; Günther, Isabel

2014-10-01

Seventy percent of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa does not use adequate sanitation facilities. In rural Benin, as much as 95% of the population does not use improved sanitation. By analyzing a representative sample of 2000 rural households, this paper explores why households remain without latrines. Our results show that wealth and latrine prices play the most decisive role for sanitation demand and ownership. At current income levels, sanitation coverage will only increase to 50% if costs for construction are reduced from currently 190 USD to 50 USD per latrine. Our analysis also suggests that previous sanitation campaigns, which were based on prestige and the allure of a modern lifestyle as motives for latrine construction, have had no success in increasing sanitation coverage. Moreover, improved public health, which is the objective of public policies promoting sanitation, will not be effective at low sanitation coverage rates. Fear at night, especially of animals, and personal harassment, are stated as the most important motivational factors for latrine ownership and the intention to build one. We therefore suggest changing the message of sanitation projects and introduce new low-cost technologies into rural markets; otherwise, marketing strategies will continue to fail in increasing sanitation demand.

Material wealth in 3D: Mapping multiple paths to prosperity in low- and middle- income countries.

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Hruschka, Daniel J; Hadley, Craig; Hackman, Joseph

2017-01-01

Material wealth is a key factor shaping human development and well-being. Every year, hundreds of studies in social science and policy fields assess material wealth in low- and middle-income countries assuming that there is a single dimension by which households can move from poverty to prosperity. However, a one-dimensional model may miss important kinds of prosperity, particularly in countries where traditional subsistence-based livelihoods coexist with modern cash economies. Using multiple correspondence analysis to analyze representative household data from six countries-Nepal, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Guatemala-across three world regions, we identify a number of independent dimension of wealth, each with a clear link to locally relevant pathways to success in cash and agricultural economies. In all cases, the first dimension identified by this approach replicates standard one-dimensional estimates and captures success in cash economies. The novel dimensions we identify reflect success in different agricultural sectors and are independently associated with key benchmarks of food security and human growth, such as adult body mass index and child height. The multidimensional models of wealth we describe here provide new opportunities for examining the causes and consequences of wealth inequality that go beyond success in cash economies, for tracing the emergence of hybrid pathways to prosperity, and for assessing how these different pathways to economic success carry different health risks and social opportunities.

Material wealth in 3D: Mapping multiple paths to prosperity in low- and middle- income countries.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel J Hruschka

Full Text Available Material wealth is a key factor shaping human development and well-being. Every year, hundreds of studies in social science and policy fields assess material wealth in low- and middle-income countries assuming that there is a single dimension by which households can move from poverty to prosperity. However, a one-dimensional model may miss important kinds of prosperity, particularly in countries where traditional subsistence-based livelihoods coexist with modern cash economies. Using multiple correspondence analysis to analyze representative household data from six countries-Nepal, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Guatemala-across three world regions, we identify a number of independent dimension of wealth, each with a clear link to locally relevant pathways to success in cash and agricultural economies. In all cases, the first dimension identified by this approach replicates standard one-dimensional estimates and captures success in cash economies. The novel dimensions we identify reflect success in different agricultural sectors and are independently associated with key benchmarks of food security and human growth, such as adult body mass index and child height. The multidimensional models of wealth we describe here provide new opportunities for examining the causes and consequences of wealth inequality that go beyond success in cash economies, for tracing the emergence of hybrid pathways to prosperity, and for assessing how these different pathways to economic success carry different health risks and social opportunities.

Transforming wealth: using the inverse hyperbolic sine (IHS) and splines to predict youth's math achievement.

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Friedline, Terri; Masa, Rainier D; Chowa, Gina A N

2015-01-01

The natural log and categorical transformations commonly applied to wealth for meeting the statistical assumptions of research may not always be appropriate for adjusting for skewness given wealth's unique properties. Finding and applying appropriate transformations is becoming increasingly important as researchers consider wealth as a predictor of well-being. We present an alternative transformation-the inverse hyperbolic sine (IHS)-for simultaneously dealing with skewness and accounting for wealth's unique properties. Using the relationship between household wealth and youth's math achievement as an example, we apply the IHS transformation to wealth data from US and Ghanaian households. We also explore non-linearity and accumulation thresholds by combining IHS transformed wealth with splines. IHS transformed wealth relates to youth's math achievement similarly when compared to categorical and natural log transformations, indicating that it is a viable alternative to other transformations commonly used in research. Non-linear relationships and accumulation thresholds emerge that predict youth's math achievement when splines are incorporated. In US households, accumulating debt relates to decreases in math achievement whereas accumulating assets relates to increases in math achievement. In Ghanaian households, accumulating assets between the 25th and 50th percentiles relates to increases in youth's math achievement. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

UK Household Portfolios

OpenAIRE

Banks, James; Smith, Sarah

2000-01-01

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the composition of household portfolios, using both aggregate and micro-data. Among the key findings are that: Most household wealth is held in the form of housing and pensions. Over time, there has been a shift away from housing towards financial assets, driven largely by the growth in life and pension funds. Liquid financial wealth (excluding life and pension funds) is not predominantly held in risky form. By far the most commonly held asset is an ...

Revisiting the child health-wealth nexus.

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Fakir, Adnan M S

2016-12-01

The causal link between a household's economic standing and child health is known to suffer from endogeneity. While past studies have exemplified the causal link to be small, albeit statistically significant, this paper aims to estimate the causal effect to investigate whether the effect of income after controlling for the endogeneity remains small in the long run. By correcting for the bias, and knowing the bias direction, one can also infer about the underlying backward effect. This paper uses an instrument variables two-stage-least-squares estimation on the Young Lives 2009 cross-sectional dataset from Andhra Pradesh, India, to understand the aforementioned relationship. The selected measure of household economic standing differentially affects the estimation. There is significant positive effect of both short-run household expenditure and long-run household wealth on child stunting, with the latter having a larger impact. The backward link running from child health to household income is likely an inverse association in our sample with lower child health inducing higher earnings. While higher average community education improved child health, increased community entertainment expenditure is found to have a negative effect. While policies catered towards improving household wealth will decrease child stunting in the long run, maternal education and the community play an equally reinforcing role in improving child health and are perhaps faster routes to achieving the goal of better child health in the short run.

WEALTH EFFECT AND DENTAL CARE UTILIZATION IN THE U.S.

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Manski, Richard J.; Moeller, John F.; Chen, Haiyan; Clair, Patricia A. St.; Schimmel, Jody; Pepper, John V.

2012-01-01

Objective The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship of wealth and income and the relative impact of each on dental utilization in a population of older Americans, using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Methods Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were analyzed for U.S. individuals aged 51 years and older during the 2008 wave of the HRS. The primary focus of the analysis is the relationship between wealth, income and dental utilization. We estimate a multivariable model of dental use controlling for wealth, income and other potentially confounding covariates. Results We find that both wealth and income each have a strong and independent positive effect on dental care use of older Americans [pdental care utilization as wealth increases depends on a person's income level, or, alternatively, that the impact on dental use as income increases depends on a person's household wealth status [p>.05]. Conclusions Relative to those living in the wealthiest U.S. households, the likelihood of utilizing dental care appears to decrease with a decline in wealth. The likelihood of utilizing dental care also appears to decrease with a decline in income as well. PMID:22515635

The Dynamics of Market Insurance, Insurable Assets, and Wealth Accumulation

OpenAIRE

Koeniger, Winfried

2002-01-01

We analyze dynamic interactions between market insurance, the stock of insurable assets and liquid wealth accumulation in a model with non-durable and durable consumption. The stock of the durable is exposed to risk against which households can insure. Since the model does not have a closed form solution we first provide an analytical approximation for the case in which households own abundant liquid wealth. It turns out that precautionary motives still matter because of fluctuations of the p...

Associations of Household Wealth and Individual Literacy with Prenatal Care in Ten West African Countries.

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Taylor, Yhenneko J; Laditka, Sarah B; Laditka, James N; Huber, Larissa R Brunner; Racine, Elizabeth F

2016-11-01

Objective To examine associations of household wealth and individual literacy with prenatal care in West Africa. Methods Data on women with recent births in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone were obtained from 2006 to 2010 Demographic and Health Surveys (n = 58,512). Separate logistic regressions estimated associations of literacy and wealth quintiles with prenatal care, controlling for age, parity, marital status, rural/urban residence, religion, multiple births, pregnancy wantedness, and the woman's involvement in decision-making at home. Any prenatal care was defined by ≥1 prenatal care visit. Adequate prenatal care was defined as at least four prenatal care visits beginning in the first trimester, at least one with a skilled provider. Results Seventy-eight percent of women had any prenatal care; 23 % had adequate care. Women who were not literate had lower odds of having any prenatal care (odds ratio, OR 0.29; 95 % confidence interval, CI 0.26-0.33) and lower odds of adequate care (OR 0.73, CI 0.68-0.78). Women in the poorest wealth quintile were substantially less likely to have any prenatal care than women in the wealthiest quintile (OR 0.24, CI 0.11-0.18), and less likely to have adequate care (OR 0.31, CI 0.27-0.35). Conclusions for Practice A substantial percentage of women in West Africa have no prenatal care. Few have adequate care. Illiteracy and poverty are important risk factors for having little or no prenatal care. Increasing education for girls, promoting culturally appropriate messages about prenatal care, and building trust in providers may increase prenatal care.

Households' portfolio choices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hochgürtel, S.

1998-01-01

This thesis presents four topics on households' portfolio choices. Empirically, households do not hold well-diversified wealth portfolios. In particular, they refrain from putting their savings into risky assets. We explore several ways that might help explaining this observation. Using Dutch

Gender Wealth Gap in Slovakia

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S.K. Trommlerová (Sofia Karina)

2017-01-01

markdownabstractNo data on wealth has been available in Slovakia prior to Household Finance and Consumption Survey. Therefore, only studies on labor market participation and wage gender gaps are available to date. These studies indicate that Slovak women earn on average 25% less than men.

How Do the Richest 1% Owns 50% of Wealth in a Small-Open Growth Model with Endogenous Wealth and Human Capital

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Wei-Bin Zhang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper extends the growth model for a closed national economy by Zhang (2015 to a small-open economy. We attempt to explain some economic mechanisms of how the richest one per cent of the population own 50% of national wealth. We consider endogenous wealth and human capital accumulation by heterogeneous households with different preferences and learning abilities as the main determinants of growth and inequality. We describe the production technologies and economic structure on the basis of the Uzawa two-sector model. By applying Zhang’s concept of disposable income and approach to household behavior, we describe consumers’ wealth accumulation and consumption behavior. We model human capital accumulation on the basis of Arrow’s learning by doing and Zhang’s creativity with leisure. We simulate the model with three groups of the population, the rich 1 %, the middle 69%, and the poor 20%. We demonstrate the existence of an equilibrium point at which the rich 1% own more than half of the national wealth and the poor 20% less than 10% of the national wealth. We show how the system moves to the equilibrium from an initial state and confirm that the equilibrium point is stable. We also conduct comparative dynamic analysis.

The Nigeria wealth distribution and health seeking behaviour: evidence from the 2012 national HIV/AIDS and reproductive health survey.

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Fagbamigbe, Adeniyi F; Bamgboye, Elijah A; Yusuf, Bidemi O; Akinyemi, Joshua O; Issa, Bolakale K; Ngige, Evelyn; Amida, Perpetua; Bashorun, Adebobola; Abatta, Emmanuel

2015-01-01

Recently, Nigeria emerged as the largest economy in Africa and the 26th in the world. However, a pertinent question is how this new economic status has impacted on the wealth and health of her citizens. There is a dearth of empirical study on the wealth distribution in Nigeria which could be important in explaining the general disparities in their health seeking behavior. An adequate knowledge of Nigeria wealth distribution will no doubt inform policy makers in their decision making to improve the quality of life of Nigerians. This study is a retrospective analysis of the assets of household in Nigeria collected during the 2012 National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey (NARHS Plus 2). We used the principal component analysis methods to construct wealth quintiles across households in Nigeria. At 5% significance level, we used ANOVA to determine differences in some health outcomes across the WQs and chi-square test to assess association between WQs and some reproductive health seeking behaviours. The wealth quintiles were found to be internally valid and coherent. However, there is a wide gap in the reproductive health seeking behavior of household members across the wealth quintiles with members of households in lower quintiles having lesser likelihood (33.0%) to receive antenatal care than among those in the highest quintiles (91.9%). While only 3% were currently using modern contraceptives in the lowest wealth quintile, it was 17.4% among the highest wealth quintile (p wealth quintiles showed a great disparity in the standard of living of Nigerian households across geo-political zones, states and rural-urban locations which had greatly influenced household health seeking behavior.

Constraints on credit, consumer behavior and the dynamics of wealth

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Gomes Costa Orlando

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper develops a simple macroeconomic model where the pattern of wealth accumulation is determined by a credit multiplier and the way households react to short-term fluctuations. Given this setup, long term wealth dynamics are eventually characterized by the presence of endogenous cycles.

Wealth gradient-based divergence in the prevalence of underweight among women by marital status in Quoc Oai district, Vietnam.

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Heo, Jongho; Yu, Soo-Young; Yi, Jinseon; Nam, You-Seon; Son, Dinh Thai; Oh, Juhwan; Lee, Jong-Koo

2018-01-01

The prevalence of underweight is high among women in Asian countries, despite nutritional changes in the region. Previous studies have demonstrated independent associations between female body weight, marital status and economic status. However, few studies have investigated possible interaction between marital and economic status in relation to Asian women's body weight. This study aimed to test associations between household wealth, marital status and underweight among women living in the Quoc Oai district of Vietnam and to identify wealth-marital status interaction in relation to body weight in these women. Data from 1087 women aged 19-60 years were collected via a baseline community survey conducted in the Quoc Oai district of Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2016. Underweight was defined using an Asian-specific body mass index cut-off (wealth index quintiles. Multivariable logistic regressions tested association between wealth and underweight after adjusting for marital status and other confounders. An interaction term (wealth index*marital status) was fitted to determine whether the association between wealth and body weight is modified by marital status. Our results show that underweight was independently associated with a wealth status (odds ratio [OR]: 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.79-0.98, p = 0.026) and ever-married status (OR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.34-0.75, p = 0.002). A significant interaction effect (OR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.50-0.90, p = 0.010) indicated that wealthy married women were less likely to be underweight, whereas wealthy never-married women were more likely to be underweight. Our results suggest that the interaction between wealth and marital status has divergent effects on underweight among Asian women. Interventions to reduce underweight among Asian women should simultaneously consider economic and marital status.

Wealth index and risk of childhood overweight and obesity: evidence from four prospective cohorts in Peru and Vietnam.

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Carrillo-Larco, Rodrigo M; Miranda, J Jaime; Bernabé-Ortiz, Antonio

2016-05-01

To estimate the incidence and risk of childhood overweight and obesity according to socioeconomic status in Peruvian and Vietnamese school-aged children. Longitudinal data from the Young Lives study were analyzed. Exposure was wealth index in tertiles. Outcome was overweight and obesity. Cumulative incidence per 100 children-years, relative risks (RR), and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) were calculated. A hierarchical approach, including child- and family-related variables, was followed to construct multivariable models. The cumulative incidence of overweight and obesity was 4.8 (95 % CI 4.1-5.5) and 1.7 (95 % CI 1.3-2.2) in the younger and older Peruvian cohort, respectively; and in Vietnam 1.5 (95 % CI 1.2-1.8) and 0.3 (95 % CI 0.2-0.5), respectively. The incidence of overweight and obesity was higher at the top wealth index tertile in all samples. In the older cohorts, comparing highest versus bottom wealth index tertile, RR of overweight and obesity was four to nine times higher: 4.25 in Peru (95 % CI 2.21-8.18) and 9.11 in Vietnam (95 % CI 1.07-77.42). The results provide important information for childhood obesity prevention in countries moving ahead with economic, epidemiological and nutritional transitions.

Comparing Wealth – Data quality of the HFCS

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Anita Tiefensee

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS provides information about house-hold wealth (real and financial assets as well as liabilities from 15 Euro-countries around the year 2010 (first wave. The survey will be the central dataset in this topic in the future. However, several aspects point to potential methodological constraints regarding cross-country comparability. Therefore the aim of this paper is to get a better insight in the data quality of this important data source. The framework for our analysis is the “Guidelines for Micro Statistics on Household Wealth” from the OECD (2013. We have two main focuses: First, we present a synopsis of cross-country differences, which is the core of the paper. We compare the sampling processes, the interview modes, the oversampling techniques, the unit and item non-response rates and how it is dealt with them via weighting and imputation as well as further points which might restrict cross-country comparability of net wealth. We classify the individual country behavior and evaluate the impact on net wealth. Second, we give a first insight in the selectivity of item non-response in a cross-national setting. We make use of logit models to identify differences in characteristics as well as item non-response patterns across countries.

Farmers’ Education and Farmers’ Wealth in Bangladesh

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Abu Zafar Mahmudul Haq

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The impact of farmers’ education is examined with a view to evaluate the actual situation of farmers’ education in Bangladesh. Fifty samples were collected from two sub districts of the Gazipur district in Bangladesh. The selection of the study sites and collection of the samples such as the years of schooling of the farm household head, total income, farm size, number of earners of farm families, family size, years of farming experience of farm household head, number of times extension contacts and rice yield were done purposively. It is cleared from the study that education is necessary for farmers to raise their wealth. Results were derived through regression analysis. The study has also shown that size of family and years of farming experience contributed significantly to the wealth accumulation of farmers.

Household Portfolio Choice Before and After House Purchase

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lyng, Ran Sun; Zhou, Jie

2017-01-01

around 61% of them to down payments when buying a house. Liquid wealth stay low after a house purchase and start to increase 3 years later; (ii) the risky asset participation rate drops 2 percentage points – a 6.2% decline – at the year of house purchase. The drop is larger for households with wealth...... above the median level; and (iii) conditional on participation, the risky asset share decreases and reaches the lowest point 1 year before a house purchase, but it jumps immediately after. This suggests that of the three channels identified in the literature that could affect the conditional risky share......We study the temporal patterns of household portfolio choice of liquid wealth over a 7-year period around house purchase, using unique administrative panel data from Denmark. We find that (i) households accumulate significantly more liquid wealth in a few years before a house purchase and convert...

Wealth in Middle and Later Life: Examining the Life Course Timing of Women's Health Limitations.

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Wilkinson, Lindsay R; Ferraro, Kenneth F; Mustillo, Sarah A

2018-06-04

Guided by cumulative inequality theory, this study poses two main questions: (a) Does women's poor health compromise household financial assets? (b) If yes, is wealth sensitive to the timing of women's health limitations? In addressing these questions, we consider the effect of health limitations on wealth at older ages, as well as examine how health limitations influence wealth over particular segments of the life course, giving attention to both the onset and duration of health limitations. Using 36 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women, piecewise growth curve and linear regression models were used to estimate the effects of life course timing and duration of health limitations on household wealth. The findings reveal that women who experienced health limitations accumulated substantially less wealth over time, especially if the health limitations were manifest during childhood or early adulthood. This study identifies how early-life health problems lead to less wealth in later life.

The Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution in Germany, France, Spain, and Greece

OpenAIRE

Bach, Stefan; Thiemann, Andreas; Zucco, Aline

2015-01-01

We analyze the top tail of the wealth distribution in Germany, France, Spain, and Greece based on the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). Since top wealth is likely to be underrepresented in household surveys we integrate the big fortunes from rich lists, estimate a Pareto distribution, and impute the missing rich. Instead of the Forbes list we mainly rely on national rich lists since they represent a broader base for the big fortunes. As a result, the top percentile share of hou...

House prices and household mobility in the Netherlands : Empirical analyses of financial characteristics of the household

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steegmans, J.W.A.M.

2017-01-01

The dissertation studies the role of financial household characteristics in the determination of house prices and household mobility in the Dutch owner-occupied housing market. We investigate how various financial characteristics -- in particular income, wealth, housing equity, and prospective

Household food production is positively associated with dietary diversity and intake of nutrient-dense foods for older preschool children in poorer families: Results from a nationally-representative survey in Nepal.

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Mulmi, Prajula; Masters, William A; Ghosh, Shibani; Namirembe, Grace; Rajbhandary, Ruchita; Manohar, Swetha; Shrestha, Binod; West, Keith P; Webb, Patrick

2017-01-01

Nutrition-sensitive interventions supporting enhanced household food production have potential to improve child dietary quality. However, heterogeneity in market access may cause systematic differences in program effectiveness depending on household wealth and child age. Identifying these effect modifiers can help development agencies specify and target their interventions. This study investigates mediating effects of household wealth and child age on links between farm production and child diets, as measured by production and intake of nutrient-dense food groups. Two rounds (2013 and 2014) of nationally representative survey data (n = 5,978 observations) were used to measure production and children's dietary intake, as well as a household wealth index and control variables, including breastfeeding. Novel steps used include measuring production diversity in terms of both species grown and food groups grown, as well as testing for mediating effects of family wealth and age of child. We find significant associations between child dietary diversity and agricultural diversity in terms of diversity of food groups and of species grown, especially for older children in poorer households, and particularly for fruits and vegetables, dairy and eggs. With each additional food group produced, log-odds of meeting minimum dietary diversity score (≥4) increase by 0.25 (p = 0.01) for children aged 24-59 months. For younger children aged 18-23 months there is a similar effect size but only in the poorest two quintiles of household wealth, and for infants 6-18 months we find no correlation between production and intake in most models. Child dietary intake is associated with the composition of farm production, most evident among older preschool children and in poorer households. To improve the nutrition of infants, other interventions are needed; and for relatively wealthier households, own farm production may displace market purchases, which could attenuate the impact of household

Household food production is positively associated with dietary diversity and intake of nutrient-dense foods for older preschool children in poorer families: Results from a nationally-representative survey in Nepal.

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Prajula Mulmi

Full Text Available Nutrition-sensitive interventions supporting enhanced household food production have potential to improve child dietary quality. However, heterogeneity in market access may cause systematic differences in program effectiveness depending on household wealth and child age. Identifying these effect modifiers can help development agencies specify and target their interventions.This study investigates mediating effects of household wealth and child age on links between farm production and child diets, as measured by production and intake of nutrient-dense food groups.Two rounds (2013 and 2014 of nationally representative survey data (n = 5,978 observations were used to measure production and children's dietary intake, as well as a household wealth index and control variables, including breastfeeding. Novel steps used include measuring production diversity in terms of both species grown and food groups grown, as well as testing for mediating effects of family wealth and age of child.We find significant associations between child dietary diversity and agricultural diversity in terms of diversity of food groups and of species grown, especially for older children in poorer households, and particularly for fruits and vegetables, dairy and eggs. With each additional food group produced, log-odds of meeting minimum dietary diversity score (≥4 increase by 0.25 (p = 0.01 for children aged 24-59 months. For younger children aged 18-23 months there is a similar effect size but only in the poorest two quintiles of household wealth, and for infants 6-18 months we find no correlation between production and intake in most models.Child dietary intake is associated with the composition of farm production, most evident among older preschool children and in poorer households. To improve the nutrition of infants, other interventions are needed; and for relatively wealthier households, own farm production may displace market purchases, which could attenuate the impact

MARRIAGE AND MEN’S WEALTH ACCUMULATION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1860-1870

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HONG, SOK CHUL

2013-01-01

This paper explores how changes in marital status affected men’s wealth accumulation in mid-nineteenth-century America, using a longitudinal sample of Union Army veterans linked to the 1860 and 1870 census manuscript schedules. Controlling for the endogeneity of wealth and marital selection, this paper provides strong evidence that marriage had positive effects on men’s wealth accumulation, whereas ending a marriage had negative effects. The estimated wealth premium on married men is about 60 percent per marital year. This substantial wealth premium is closely related to wives’ specializing in household production, and farmers and craftsmen economically benefited from the unpaid labor of their wives. PMID:24058226

Housing Wealth and Consumption: A Micro Panel Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Browning, Martin; Gørtz, Mette; Leth-Petersen, Søren

2013-01-01

find little evidence of a housing wealth effect on consumption: unexpected innovations to house prices are uncorrelated with changes in total expenditure at the household level. A reform in 1992 allowed – for the first time - house owners to use their housing equity as collateral for consumption loans....... We find that young house owners likely to be affected by credit constraints react to house price changes after 1993. Our findings suggest that house prices impact total expenditure through improved collateral rather than directly through wealth....

WEALTH TAXATION AND WEALTH ACCUMULATION

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Katrine Marie Tofthøj; Jakobsen, Kristian Thor; Kleven, Henrik

Using administrative wealth records from Denmark, we study the effects of wealth taxes on wealth accumulation. Denmark used to impose one of the world's highest marginal tax rates on wealth, but this tax was drastically reduced and ultimately abolished between 1989 and 1997. Due to the specific d...... on wealth accumulation. Our simulations show that the long-run elasticity of wealth with respect to the net-of-tax return is sizeable at the top of distribution. Our paper provides the type of evidence needed to assess optimal capital taxation.......Using administrative wealth records from Denmark, we study the effects of wealth taxes on wealth accumulation. Denmark used to impose one of the world's highest marginal tax rates on wealth, but this tax was drastically reduced and ultimately abolished between 1989 and 1997. Due to the specific...... design of the wealth tax, these changes provide a compelling quasi-experiment for understanding behavioral responses among the wealthiest segments of the population. We find clear reduced-form effects of wealth taxes in the short and medium run, with larger effects on the very wealthy than...

Wealth and cardiovascular health: a cross-sectional study of wealth-related inequalities in the awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in high-, middle- and low-income countries.

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Palafox, Benjamin; McKee, Martin; Balabanova, Dina; AlHabib, Khalid F; Avezum, Alvaro Jr; Bahonar, Ahmad; Ismail, Noorhassim; Chifamba, Jephat; Chow, Clara K; Corsi, Daniel J; Dagenais, Gilles R; Diaz, Rafael; Gupta, Rajeev; Iqbal, Romaina; Kaur, Manmeet; Khatib, Rasha; Kruger, Annamarie; Kruger, Iolanthe Marike; Lanas, Fernando; Lopez-Jaramillo, Patricio; Minfan, Fu; Mohan, Viswanathan; Mony, Prem K; Oguz, Aytekin; Palileo-Villanueva, Lia M; Perel, Pablo; Poirier, Paul; Rangarajan, Sumathy; Rensheng, Lei; Rosengren, Annika; Soman, Biju; Stuckler, David; Subramanian, S V; Teo, Koon; Tsolekile, Lungiswa P; Wielgosz, Andreas; Yaguang, Peng; Yeates, Karen; Yongzhen, Mo; Yusoff, Khalid; Yusuf, Rita; Yusufali, Afzalhussein; Zatońska, Katarzyna; Yusuf, Salim

2016-12-08

Effective policies to control hypertension require an understanding of its distribution in the population and the barriers people face along the pathway from detection through to treatment and control. One key factor is household wealth, which may enable or limit a household's ability to access health care services and adequately control such a chronic condition. This study aims to describe the scale and patterns of wealth-related inequalities in the awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in 21 countries using baseline data from the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study. A cross-section of 163,397 adults aged 35 to 70 years were recruited from 661 urban and rural communities in selected low-, middle- and high-income countries (complete data for this analysis from 151,619 participants). Using blood pressure measurements, self-reported health and household data, concentration indices adjusted for age, sex and urban-rural location, we estimate the magnitude of wealth-related inequalities in the levels of hypertension awareness, treatment, and control in each of the 21 country samples. Overall, the magnitude of wealth-related inequalities in hypertension awareness, treatment, and control was observed to be higher in poorer than in richer countries. In poorer countries, levels of hypertension awareness and treatment tended to be higher among wealthier households; while a similar pro-rich distribution was observed for hypertension control in countries at all levels of economic development. In some countries, hypertension awareness was greater among the poor (Sweden, Argentina, Poland), as was treatment (Sweden, Poland) and control (Sweden). Inequality in hypertension management outcomes decreased as countries became richer, but the considerable variation in patterns of wealth-related inequality - even among countries at similar levels of economic development - underscores the importance of health systems in improving hypertension management for all

Where wealth matters more for health: the wealth-health gradient in 16 countries.

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Semyonov, Moshe; Lewin-Epstein, Noah; Maskileyson, Dina

2013-03-01

Researchers have long demonstrated that persons of high economic status are likely to be healthier than persons of low socioeconomic standing. Cross-national studies have also demonstrated that health of the population tends to increase with country's level of economic development and to decline with level of economic inequality. The present research utilizes data for 16 national samples (of populations fifty years of age and over) to examine whether the relationship between wealth and health at the individual-level is systematically associated with country's level of economic development and country's level of income inequality. The analysis reveals that in all countries rich persons tend to be healthier than poor persons. Furthermore, in all countries the positive association between wealth and health holds even after controlling for socio-demographic attributes and household income. Hierarchical regression analysis leads to two major conclusions: first, country's economic resources increase average health of the population but do not weaken the tie between wealth and health; second, a more equal distribution of economic resources (greater egalitarianism) does not raise health levels of the population but weakens the tie between wealth and health. The latter findings can be mostly attributed to the uniqueness of the US case. The findings and their significance are discussed in light of previous research and theory. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anticipatory child fostering and household economic security in Malawi

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Lauren Bachan

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Background: While there is a rich literature on the practice of child fostering in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about how fostering impacts receiving households, as few studies consider household conditions both before and after fostering. Despite the fact that circumstancessurrounding fostering vary, the literature's key distinction of fostering is often drawn along the simple line of whether or not a household is fostering a child. This paper argues that anticipation of fostering responsibilities, in particular, is a useful dimension to distinguish fostering experiences for receiving households. Objective: This paper examines the relationship between receiving a foster child and subsequent changes in household wealth. Particular emphasis is placed on how these changes are conditioned by differing levels of anticipation of the fostering event. Methods: This study uses data from Tsogolo la Thanzi (TLT, a longitudinal survey in Balaka, Malawi. Using data from 1754 TLT respondents, fixed effects pooled time-series models are estimated to assess whether and how receiving a foster child changes household wealth. Results: This paper demonstrates the heterogeneity of fostering experiences for receiving households.The results show that households that anticipate fostering responsibilities experience a greater increase in household wealth than both households that do not foster and those that are surprised by fostering. Conclusions: Households that anticipate fostering responsibilities exhibit the greatest increase in householdwealth. While fostering households that do not anticipate fostering responsibilities may not experience these gains, there is no evidence to indicate that such households are negatively impacted relative to households that do not foster. This finding suggests that additional childcare responsibilities may not be as detrimental to African households as some researchers have feared.

Poverty Is Low Consumption and Low Wealth, Not Just Low Income

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Headey, Bruce

2008-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to suggest an improved measure of financial poverty, based on household consumption and wealth as well as income. Data come from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Australia (HILDA) Survey, which appears to be the first national socio-economic panel survey to provide longitudinal data on all three measures of…

The Effect of Household Debt on Consumption in Thailand

OpenAIRE

Thitima Chucherd

2006-01-01

This paper describes the quantitative influence of household debt and wealth on total consumption in Thailand during the recession and recovery periods after the 1997 financial crisis. The analysis of the consumption function was based on the Life-Cycle and Permanent Income Hypotheses and used household survey data in Thailand. This empirical study found that debt positively influences consumption similar to wealth effect with greater impact of the latter. Moreover, positive debt effect can b...

Greater post-Neolithic wealth disparities in Eurasia than in North America and Mesoamerica.

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Kohler, Timothy A; Smith, Michael E; Bogaard, Amy; Feinman, Gary M; Peterson, Christian E; Betzenhauser, Alleen; Pailes, Matthew; Stone, Elizabeth C; Marie Prentiss, Anna; Dennehy, Timothy J; Ellyson, Laura J; Nicholas, Linda M; Faulseit, Ronald K; Styring, Amy; Whitlam, Jade; Fochesato, Mattia; Foor, Thomas A; Bowles, Samuel

2017-11-30

How wealth is distributed among households provides insight into the fundamental characters of societies and the opportunities they afford for social mobility. However, economic inequality has been hard to study in ancient societies for which we do not have written records, which adds to the challenge of placing current wealth disparities into a long-term perspective. Although various archaeological proxies for wealth, such as burial goods or exotic or expensive-to-manufacture goods in household assemblages, have been proposed, the first is not clearly connected with households, and the second is confounded by abandonment mode and other factors. As a result, numerous questions remain concerning the growth of wealth disparities, including their connection to the development of domesticated plants and animals and to increases in sociopolitical scale. Here we show that wealth disparities generally increased with the domestication of plants and animals and with increased sociopolitical scale, using Gini coefficients computed over the single consistent proxy of house-size distributions. However, unexpected differences in the responses of societies to these factors in North America and Mesoamerica, and in Eurasia, became evident after the end of the Neolithic period. We argue that the generally higher wealth disparities identified in post-Neolithic Eurasia were initially due to the greater availability of large mammals that could be domesticated, because they allowed more profitable agricultural extensification, and also eventually led to the development of a mounted warrior elite able to expand polities (political units that cohere via identity, ability to mobilize resources, or governance) to sizes that were not possible in North America and Mesoamerica before the arrival of Europeans. We anticipate that this analysis will stimulate other work to enlarge this sample to include societies in South America, Africa, South Asia and Oceania that were under-sampled or not

Saving and Social Security Wealth: A Case of Turkey

OpenAIRE

H. Yigit Aydede

2007-01-01

This paper is the first attempt in the literature to investigate the effects of public social security on aggregate consumption in a time-series setting for a developing country, Turkey that has one of the most generous social security systems in the OECD region. In order to quantify the social security variable, the paper uses the social security wealth (SSW) series calculated for the first time for Turkey and shows that SSW is the largest part of the household wealth in Turkey and therefore...

Social, economic, and resource predictors of variability in household air pollution from cookstove emissions.

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Gautam N Yadama

Full Text Available We examine if social and economic factors, fuelwood availability, market and media access are associated with owning a modified stove and variation in household emissions from biomass combustion, a significant environmental and health concern in rural India. We analyze cross-sectional household socio-economic data, and PM(2.5 and particulate surface area concentration in household emissions from cookstoves (n=100. This data set combines household social and economic variables with particle emissions indexes associated with the household stove. The data are from the Foundation for Ecological Society, India, from a field study of household emissions. In our analysis, we find that less access to ready and free fuelwood and higher wealth are associated with owning a replacement/modified stove. We also find that additional kitchen ventilation is associated with a 12% reduction in particulate emissions concentration (p<0.05, after we account for the type of stove used. We did not find a significant association between replacement/modified stove on household emissions when controlling for additional ventilation. Higher wealth and education are associated with having additional ventilation. Social caste, market and media access did not have any effect on the presence of replacement or modified stoves or additional ventilation. While the data available to us does not allow an examination of direct health outcomes from emissions variations, adverse environmental and health impacts of toxic household emissions are well established elsewhere in the literature. The value of this study is in its further examination of the role of social and economic factors and available fuelwood from commons in type of stove use, and additional ventilation, and their effect on household emissions. These associations are important since the two direct routes to improving household air quality among the poor are stove type and better ventilation.

Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems

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Yun, Seong Do; Hutniczak, Barbara; Abbott, Joshua K.; Fenichel, Eli P.

2017-01-01

We merge inclusive wealth theory with ecosystem-based management (EBM) to address two challenges in the science of sustainable management of ecosystems. First, we generalize natural capital theory to approximate realized shadow prices for multiple interacting natural capital stocks (species) making up an ecosystem. These prices enable ecosystem components to be better included in wealth-based sustainability measures. We show that ecosystems are best envisioned as portfolios of assets, where the portfolio’s performance depends on the performance of the underlying assets influenced by their interactions. Second, changes in ecosystem wealth provide an attractive headline index for EBM, regardless of whether ecosystem wealth is ultimately included in a broader wealth index. We apply our approach to the Baltic Sea ecosystem, focusing on the interacting community of three commercially important fish species: cod, herring, and sprat. Our results incorporate supporting services embodied in the shadow price of a species through its trophic interactions. Prey fish have greater shadow prices than expected based on market value, and predatory fish have lower shadow prices than expected based on market value. These results are because correctly measured shadow prices reflect interdependence and limits to substitution. We project that ecosystem wealth in the Baltic Sea fishery ecosystem generally increases conditional on the EBM-inspired multispecies maximum sustainable yield management beginning in 2017, whereas continuing the current single-species management generally results in declining wealth. PMID:28588145

Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems.

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Yun, Seong Do; Hutniczak, Barbara; Abbott, Joshua K; Fenichel, Eli P

2017-06-20

We merge inclusive wealth theory with ecosystem-based management (EBM) to address two challenges in the science of sustainable management of ecosystems. First, we generalize natural capital theory to approximate realized shadow prices for multiple interacting natural capital stocks (species) making up an ecosystem. These prices enable ecosystem components to be better included in wealth-based sustainability measures. We show that ecosystems are best envisioned as portfolios of assets, where the portfolio's performance depends on the performance of the underlying assets influenced by their interactions. Second, changes in ecosystem wealth provide an attractive headline index for EBM, regardless of whether ecosystem wealth is ultimately included in a broader wealth index. We apply our approach to the Baltic Sea ecosystem, focusing on the interacting community of three commercially important fish species: cod, herring, and sprat. Our results incorporate supporting services embodied in the shadow price of a species through its trophic interactions. Prey fish have greater shadow prices than expected based on market value, and predatory fish have lower shadow prices than expected based on market value. These results are because correctly measured shadow prices reflect interdependence and limits to substitution. We project that ecosystem wealth in the Baltic Sea fishery ecosystem generally increases conditional on the EBM-inspired multispecies maximum sustainable yield management beginning in 2017, whereas continuing the current single-species management generally results in declining wealth.

Household Wealth Trends in the United States, 1962 to 2013: What Happened over the Great Recession?

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Edward N. Wolff

2016-10-01

Full Text Available I look at wealth trends from 1962 to 2013, particularly for the middle class. Asset prices plunged between 2007 and 2010 but then rebounded from 2010 to 2013. The most telling finding is that median wealth plummeted by 44 percent between 2007 and 2010, almost double the drop in housing prices. Wealth inequality, after almost two decades of little movement, was up sharply from 2007 to 2010. This sharp fall in median net worth and rise in overall wealth inequality are traceable primarily to the high leverage of middle-class families, the high share of homes in their portfolio, and the plunge in house prices. Rather remarkably, median (and mean wealth did not essentially change from 2010 to 2013 despite the rebound in asset prices. The proximate cause was the high dissavings of the middle class. Wealth inequality also remained largely unchanged.

Wealth distribution of simple exchange models coupled with extremal dynamics

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Bagatella-Flores, N.; Rodríguez-Achach, M.; Coronel-Brizio, H. F.; Hernández-Montoya, A. R.

2015-01-01

Punctuated Equilibrium (PE) states that after long periods of evolutionary quiescence, species evolution can take place in short time intervals, where sudden differentiation makes new species emerge and some species extinct. In this paper, we introduce and study the effect of punctuated equilibrium on two different asset exchange models: the yard sale model (YS, winner gets a random fraction of a poorer player's wealth) and the theft and fraud model (TF, winner gets a random fraction of the loser's wealth). The resulting wealth distribution is characterized using the Gini index. In order to do this, we consider PE as a perturbation with probability ρ of being applied. We compare the resulting values of the Gini index at different increasing values of ρ in both models. We found that in the case of the TF model, the Gini index reduces as the perturbation ρ increases, not showing dependence with the agents number. While for YS we observe a phase transition which happens around ρc = 0.79. For perturbations ρ <ρc the Gini index reaches the value of one as time increases (an extreme wealth condensation state), whereas for perturbations greater than or equal to ρc the Gini index becomes different to one, avoiding the system reaches this extreme state. We show that both simple exchange models coupled with PE dynamics give more realistic results. In particular for YS, we observe a power low decay of wealth distribution.

Food-coping strategy index applied to a community of farm-worker households in South Africa.

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Kruger, Rozanne; Schönfeldt, Hettie Carina; Owen, Johanna Hendriena

2008-03-01

In South Africa, households living in informal urban settlements, in rural areas, and on commercial farms experience various levels of dietary variety, food intake, and household hunger. Low incomes, poor food production and availability, and low spending power characterize these households. Households employ various food-coping strategies to alleviate food stress or poor food availability. To apply an existing food-coping strategy (FCS) index to assess household hunger and its usefulness in identifying the level of food stress and the patterns of food coping in farm-worker households. A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Data were gathered from women (18 to 57 years of age) responsible for food provision in a small farm-worker community in Fouriesburg, South Africa. A structured food-coping questionnaire and a standardized FCS index were used to gather data. The two most common FCS used were relying on cheaper food (chicken feet, diluted soya-mince soup) or less preferred food (meat bones) and employing food-seeking strategies (gathering wild foods), followed by consumption of seed stock (maize) and reduced portion sizes (protein foods and side dishes), resulting in starch-based diets of poor variety. Seasonal strategies varied according to the level of food stress experienced. Patterns of food coping were identified. Negative FCS (limiting food choices, only consuming starchy staples) may cause poor health status. The FCS index was effectively used to assess farm-worker household food-coping behavior (early, clear signals of the level of food distress). These results could be used to allocate appropriate food aid (type of food) and to design nutrition education programs focused on positive FCS (food gathering or bartering) in a particular community to prevent suboptimal nutritional status.

Risky business : Theoretical approaches to housing in the household portfolio

OpenAIRE

Østli, Marius

2008-01-01

Housing is typically the greatest investment, and the most valuable asset, of any household. Overall, it dominates the household portfolios and is crucial in the accumulation of wealth over time. Since housing assets can serve as collateral, people are granted large mortgages, and thus even modest returns yield great wealth boosts due to the sheer magnitudes of the investments. Naturally, owning a home also produces housing benefits of great value to the owner-occupier. Everyone needs a place...

Health and wealth in Mesoamerica: findings from Salud Mesomérica 2015.

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Mokdad, Ali H; Gagnier, Marielle C; Colson, K Ellicott; Zúñiga-Brenes, Paola; Ríos-Zertuche, Diego; Haakenstad, Annie; Palmisano, Erin B; Anderson, Brent W; Desai, Sima S; Gillespie, Catherine W; Murphy, Tasha; Naghavi, Paria; Nelson, Jennifer; Ranganathan, Dharani; Schaefer, Alexandra; Usmanova, Gulnoza; Wilson, Shelley; Hernandez, Bernardo; Lozano, Rafael; Iriarte, Emma

2015-07-14

Individual income and poverty are associated with poor health outcomes. The poor face unique challenges related to access, education, financial capacity, environmental effects, and other factors that threaten their health outcomes. We examined the variation in the health outcomes and health behaviors among the poorest quintile in eight countries of Mesoamerica using data from the Salud Mesomérica 2015 baseline household surveys. We used multivariable logistic regression to measure the association between delivering a child in a health facility and select household and maternal characteristics, including education and measures of wealth. Health indicators varied greatly between geographic segments. Controlling for other demographic characteristics, women with at least secondary education were more likely to have an in-facility delivery compared to women who had not attended school (OR: 3.20, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 2.56-3.99, respectively). Similarly, women from households with the highest expenditure were more likely to deliver in a health facility compared to those from the lowest expenditure households (OR 3.06, 95 % CI: 2.43-3.85). Household assets did not impact these associations. Moreover, we found that commonly-used definitions of poverty do not align with the disparities in health outcomes observed in these communities. Although poverty measured by expenditure or wealth is associated with health disparities or health outcomes, a composite indicator of health poverty based on coverage is more likely to focus attention on health problems and solutions. Our findings call for the public health community to define poverty by health coverage measures rather than income or wealth. Such a health-poverty metric is more likely to generate attention and mobilize targeted action by the health communities than our current definition of poverty.

Childhood family wealth and mental health in a national cohort of young adults.

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Lê-Scherban, Félice; Brenner, Allison B; Schoeni, Robert F

2016-12-01

Mental health is critical to young adult health, as the onset of 75% of psychiatric disorders occurs by age 24 and psychiatric disorders early in life predict later behavioral health problems. Wealth may serve as a buffer against economic stressors. Family wealth may be particularly relevant for young adults by providing them with economic resources as they make educational decisions and move towards financial and social independence. We used prospectively collected data from 2060 young adults aged 18-27 in 2005-2011 from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a national cohort of US families. We examined associations between nonspecific psychological distress (measured with the K-6 scale) and childhood average household wealth during ages 0-18 years (net worth in 2010 dollars). In demographics-adjusted generalized estimating equation models, higher childhood wealth percentile was related to a lower prevalence of serious psychological distress: compared to below-median wealth, prevalence ratio (PR) = 0.56 (0.36-0.87) for 3 rd quartile and PR = 0.46 (0.29-0.73) for 4 th quartile. The associations were attenuated slightly by adjustment for parent education and more so by adjustment for childhood household income percentile. Understanding the lifelong processes through which distinct aspects of socioeconomic status affect mental health can help us identify high-risk populations and take steps to minimize future disparities in mental illness.

Social accounting matrix and the effects of economic reform on health price index and household expenditures: Evidence from Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Keshavarz, Khosro; Najafi, Behzad; Andayesh, Yaghob; Rezapour, Aziz; Abolhallaj, Masoud; Sarabi Asiabar, Ali; Hashemi Meshkini, Amir; Sanati, Ehsan; Mirian, Iman; Nikfar, Shekoofeh; Lotfi, Farhad

2017-01-01

Background: Socioeconomic indicators are the main factors that affect health outcome. Health price index (HPI) and households living costs (HLC) are affected by economic reform. This study aimed at examining the effect of subsidy targeting plan (STP) on HPI and HLC. Methods: The social accounting matrix was used to study the direct and indirect effects of STP. We chose 11 health related goods and services including insurance, compulsory social security services, hospital services, medical and dental services, other human health services, veterinary services, social services, environmental health services, laundry& cleaning and dyeing services, cosmetic and physical health services, and pharmaceutical products in the social accounting matrix to examine the health price index. Data were analyzed by the I-O&SAM software. Results: Due to the subsidy release on energy, water, and bread prices, we found that (i) health related goods and services groups' price index rose between 33.43% and 77.3%, (ii) the living cost index of urban households increased between 48.75% and 58.21%, and (iii) the living cost index of rural households grew between 53.51% and 68.23%. The results demonstrated that the elimination of subsidy would have negative effects on health subdivision and households' costs such that subsidy elimination increased the health prices index and the household living costs, especially among low-income families. The STP had considerable effects on health subdivision price index. Conclusion: The elimination or reduction of energy carriers and basic commodities subsidies have changed health price and households living cost index. Therefore, the policymakers should consider controlling the price of health sectors, price fluctuations and shocks.

How do the Richest 1% Own 50% of the National Wealth in an Integrated Walrasian Equilibrium and Neoclassical Growth Model

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Wei-Bin Zhang

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a dynamic economic model of heterogeneous households to explain economic mechanisms of how the richest one per cent of the population own 50% of national wealth. We explain inequality in a purely competitive economic environment with endogenous wealth and human capital accumulation. The production technologies and economic structure follow the Uzawa two-sector model. In this study a household’s disposable income is the traditional disposable income (which is the income that a household earns each period of time after taxes and transfers in the Solow model and many empirical studies plus the value of the household’s wealth. By applying Zhang’s concept of disposable income and utility function, we describe consumers’ wealth accumulation and consumption behavior. We show how wealth accumulation, human capital accumulation, and division of labor, and time distribution interact with each other under perfect competition. We simulate the model with three groups of the people, the rich, the middle, and the poor whose shares of the population are, respectively, the 1 %, 69%, and 20%. We demonstrate the existence of an equilibrium point at which the rich 1% own more than half of the national wealth and the poor 20% less than 10% of the national wealth. The rich household works only 4 hours a day and the poor household 11 hours a day. We show how the system moves to the equilibrium from an initial state and confirm that the equilibrium point is stable. We also demonstrate how changes in the total factor productivity of the capital goods sector, the rich’s human capital utilization efficiency, the rich’s efficiency of learning through consuming, and the rich’s propensities to save, to consume, and to enjoy leisure, affect growth and inequality.

Childhood family wealth and mental health in a national cohort of young adults

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Félice Lê-Scherban

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Mental health is critical to young adult health, as the onset of 75% of psychiatric disorders occurs by age 24 and psychiatric disorders early in life predict later behavioral health problems. Wealth may serve as a buffer against economic stressors. Family wealth may be particularly relevant for young adults by providing them with economic resources as they make educational decisions and move towards financial and social independence. Methods: We used prospectively collected data from 2060 young adults aged 18–27 in 2005–2011 from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a national cohort of US families. We examined associations between nonspecific psychological distress (measured with the K-6 scale and childhood average household wealth during ages 0–18 years (net worth in 2010 dollars. Results: In demographics-adjusted generalized estimating equation models, higher childhood wealth percentile was related to a lower prevalence of serious psychological distress: compared to lowest-quartile wealth, prevalence ratio (PR=0.52 (0.32–0.85 for 3rd quartile and PR=0.41 (0.24–0.68 for 4th quartile. The associations were attenuated slightly by adjustment for parent education and more so by adjustment for childhood household income percentile. Conclusions: Understanding the lifelong processes through which distinct aspects of socioeconomic status affect mental health can help us identify high-risk populations and take steps to minimize future disparities in mental illness. Keywords: USA, Mental health, Health disparities, Socioeconomic status, Young adults, Life course, Wealth, Multigenerational

Equity monitoring for social marketing: use of wealth quintiles and the concentration index for decision making in HIV prevention, family planning, and malaria programs.

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Chakraborty, Nirali M; Firestone, Rebecca; Bellows, Nicole

2013-01-01

The majority of social marketing programs are intended to reach the poor. It is therefore essential that social marketing organizations monitor the health equity of their programs and improve targeting when the poor are not being reached. Current measurement approaches are often insufficient for decision making because they fail to show a program's ability to reach the poor and demonstrate progress over time. Further, effective program equity metrics should be benchmarked against a national reference population and consider exposure, not just health outcomes, to measure direct results of implementation. This study compares two measures of health equity, concentration indices and wealth quintiles, using a defined reference population, and considers benefits of both measures together to inform programmatic decision making. Three datasets from recent cross-sectional behavioral surveys on malaria, HIV, and family planning from Nepal and Burkina Faso were used to calculate concentration indices and wealth quintiles. Each sample was standardized to national wealth distributions based on recent Demographic and Health Surveys. Wealth quintiles were generated and concentration indices calculated for health outcomes and program exposure in each sample. Chi-square and t-tests were used to assess statistical significance of results. Reporting wealth quintiles showed that recipients of Population Services International (PSI) interventions were wealthier than national populations. Both measures indicated that desirable health outcomes were usually concentrated among wealthier populations. Positive and significant concentration indices in all three surveys indicated that wealth and program exposure were correlated; however this relationship was not necessarily linear. In analyzing the equity of modern contraceptive use stratified by exposure to family planning messages in Nepal, the outcome was equitable (concentration index = 0.006, p = 0.68) among the exposed, while the wealthy

Do Wealth Shocks Affect Health? New Evidence from the Housing Boom.

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Fichera, Eleonora; Gathergood, John

2016-11-01

We exploit large exogenous changes in housing wealth to examine the impact of wealth gains and losses on individual health. In UK household, panel data house price increases, which endow owners with greater wealth, lower the likelihood of home owners exhibiting a range of non-chronic health conditions and improve their self-assessed health with no effect on their psychological health. These effects are not transitory and persist over a 10-year period. Using a range of fixed effects models, we provide robust evidence that these results are not biased by reverse causality or omitted factors. For owners' wealth gains affect labour supply and leisure choices indicating that house price increases allow individuals to reduce intensity of work with commensurate health benefits. © 2016 The Authors. Health Economics Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2016 The Authors. Health Economics Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

National Health Insurance Scheme: How Protected Are Households in Oyo State, Nigeria from Catastrophic Health Expenditure?

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Olayinka Stephen Ilesanmi

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Background The major objective of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS in Nigeria is to protect families from the financial hardship of large medical bills. Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE is rampart in Nigeria despite the take-off of the NHIS. This study aimed to determine if households enrolled in the NHIS were protected from having CHE. Methods The study took place among 714 households in urban communities of Oyo State. CHE was measured using a threshold of 40% of monthly non-food expenditure. Descriptive statistics were done, Principal Component Analysis was used to divide households into wealth quintiles. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were done. Results The mean age of household respondent was 33.5 years. The median household income was 43,500 naira (290 US dollars and the range was 7,000–680,000 naira (46.7–4,533 US dollars in 2012. The overall median household healthcare cost was 890 naira (5.9 US dollars and the range was 10-17,700 naira (0.1–118 US dollars in 2012. In all, 67 (9.4% households were enrolled in NHIS scheme. Healthcare services was utilized by 637 (82.9% and CHE occurred in 42 (6.6% households. CHE occurred in 14 (10.9% of the households in the lowest quintile compared to 3 (2.5% in the highest wealth quintile (P= 0.004. The odds of CHE among households in lowest wealth quintile is about 5 times. They had Crude OR (CI: 4.7 (1.3–16.8, P= 0.022. Non enrolled households were two times likely to have CHE, though not significant Conclusion Households in the lowest wealth quintiles were at higher risk of CHE. Universal coverage of health insurance in Nigeria should be fast-tracked to give the expected financial risk protection and decreased incidence of CHE.

Credit market access in Uganda: evidence from household survey data 1999/2000

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FN Okurut

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the individual and household characteristics that influenced credit market access in Uganda using household data for 1999/2000. The results suggest that credit market access was significantly influenced by gender, household wealth, age, regional location, and urban/rural location.

An index of inequality in China

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Guan, Dabo

2017-10-01

Household income is a typical measure of inequality, but it is limited by under-reporting, especially for rural Chinese households. A new study shows that energy consumption measures service flows of household durable electronics, which can provide more precise measurement of rural wealth inequalities and distributions.

A generalized statistical model for the size distribution of wealth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clementi, F; Gallegati, M; Kaniadakis, G

2012-01-01

In a recent paper in this journal (Clementi et al 2009 J. Stat. Mech. P02037), we proposed a new, physically motivated, distribution function for modeling individual incomes, having its roots in the framework of the κ-generalized statistical mechanics. The performance of the κ-generalized distribution was checked against real data on personal income for the United States in 2003. In this paper we extend our previous model so as to be able to account for the distribution of wealth. Probabilistic functions and inequality measures of this generalized model for wealth distribution are obtained in closed form. In order to check the validity of the proposed model, we analyze the US household wealth distributions from 1984 to 2009 and conclude an excellent agreement with the data that is superior to any other model already known in the literature. (paper)

A generalized statistical model for the size distribution of wealth

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Clementi, F.; Gallegati, M.; Kaniadakis, G.

2012-12-01

In a recent paper in this journal (Clementi et al 2009 J. Stat. Mech. P02037), we proposed a new, physically motivated, distribution function for modeling individual incomes, having its roots in the framework of the κ-generalized statistical mechanics. The performance of the κ-generalized distribution was checked against real data on personal income for the United States in 2003. In this paper we extend our previous model so as to be able to account for the distribution of wealth. Probabilistic functions and inequality measures of this generalized model for wealth distribution are obtained in closed form. In order to check the validity of the proposed model, we analyze the US household wealth distributions from 1984 to 2009 and conclude an excellent agreement with the data that is superior to any other model already known in the literature.

Targeting micro-credits to poor household enterprises in Ecuador

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hidalgo, D.; Oosterbeek, H.

2008-01-01

In 2007 the government of Ecuador launched a micro-credit program for enterprises run by poor households. The program was targeted to households at the bottom two quintiles in the wealth distribution. This paper uses data collected prior to the start of the program to examine whether the

The physiological impacts of wealth shocks in late life: Evidence from the Great Recession.

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Boen, Courtney; Yang, Y Claire

2016-02-01

Given documented links between individual socioeconomic status (SES) and health, it is likely that-in addition to its impacts on individuals' wallets and bank accounts-the Great Recession also took a toll on individuals' disease and mortality risk. Exploiting a quasi-natural experiment design, this study utilizes nationally representative, longitudinal data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) (2005-2011) (N = 930) and individual fixed effects models to examine how household-level wealth shocks experienced during the Great Recession relate to changes in biophysiological functioning in older adults. Results indicate that wealth shocks significantly predicted changes in physiological functioning, such that losses in net worth from the pre-to the post-Recession period were associated with increases in systolic blood pressure and C-reactive protein over the six year period. Further, while the association between wealth shocks and changes in blood pressure was unattenuated with the inclusion of other indicators of SES, psychosocial well-being, and health behaviors in analytic models, we document some evidence of mediation in the association between changes in wealth and changes in C-reactive protein, which suggests specificity in the social and biophysiological mechanisms relating wealth shocks and health at older ages. Linking macro-level conditions, meso-level household environments, and micro-level biological processes, this study provides new insights into the mechanisms through which economic inequality contributes to disease and mortality risk in late life. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The nutrition transition in Mexico 1988-2016: the role of wealth in the social patterning of obesity by education.

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Pérez-Ferrer, Carolina; McMunn, Anne; Zaninotto, Paola; Brunner, Eric J

2018-05-10

The present study investigates whether the reversal of the social gradient in obesity, defined as a cross-over to higher obesity prevalence among groups with lower education level, has occurred among men and women in urban and rural areas of Mexico. Cross-sectional series of nationally representative surveys (1988, 1999, 2006, 2012 and 2016). The association between education and obesity was investigated over the period 1988-2016. Effect modification of the education-obesity association by household wealth was tested. Mexico. Women (n 54 816) and men (n 20 589) aged 20-49 years. In both urban and rural areas, the association between education and obesity in women varied by level of household wealth in the earlier surveys (1988, 1999 and 2006; interaction Pwealth groups. Among men, education level was not associated with obesity in urban areas; there was a direct association in rural areas. Wealth did not modify the association between education and obesity. The reversal of the educational gradient in obesity among women occurred once a threshold level of household wealth was reached. Among men, there was no evidence of a reversal of the gradient. Policies must not lose sight of the populations most vulnerable to the obesogenic environment.

Equity monitoring for social marketing: use of wealth quintiles and the concentration index for decision making in HIV prevention, family planning, and malaria programs

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background The majority of social marketing programs are intended to reach the poor. It is therefore essential that social marketing organizations monitor the health equity of their programs and improve targeting when the poor are not being reached. Current measurement approaches are often insufficient for decision making because they fail to show a program's ability to reach the poor and demonstrate progress over time. Further, effective program equity metrics should be benchmarked against a national reference population and consider exposure, not just health outcomes, to measure direct results of implementation. This study compares two measures of health equity, concentration indices and wealth quintiles, using a defined reference population, and considers benefits of both measures together to inform programmatic decision making. Methods Three datasets from recent cross-sectional behavioral surveys on malaria, HIV, and family planning from Nepal and Burkina Faso were used to calculate concentration indices and wealth quintiles. Each sample was standardized to national wealth distributions based on recent Demographic and Health Surveys. Wealth quintiles were generated and concentration indices calculated for health outcomes and program exposure in each sample. Chi-square and t-tests were used to assess statistical significance of results. Results Reporting wealth quintiles showed that recipients of Population Services International (PSI) interventions were wealthier than national populations. Both measures indicated that desirable health outcomes were usually concentrated among wealthier populations. Positive and significant concentration indices in all three surveys indicated that wealth and program exposure were correlated; however this relationship was not necessarily linear. In analyzing the equity of modern contraceptive use stratified by exposure to family planning messages in Nepal, the outcome was equitable (concentration index = 0.006, p = 0.68) among the

Who Owns the Wealth in Tax Havens? Macro Evidence and Implications for Global Inequality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alstadsæter, Annette; Johannesen, Niels; Zucman, Gabriel

2017-01-01

, accounting for it increases the top 0.01% wealth share substantially in Europe, even in countries that do not use tax havens extensively. It has considerable effects in Russia, where the vast majority of wealth at the top is held offshore. These results highlight the importance of looking beyond tax......Drawing on newly published macroeconomic statistics, this paper estimates the amount of household wealth owned by each country in offshore tax havens. The equivalent of 10% of world GDP is held in tax havens globally, but this average masks a great deal of heterogeneity—from a few percent of GDP...... in Scandinavia, to about 15% in Continental Europe, and 60% in Gulf countries and some Latin American economies. We use these estimates to construct revised series of top wealth shares in ten countries, which account for close to half of world GDP. Because offshore wealth is very concentrated at the top...

Financial Literacy, Schooling, and Wealth Accumulation. NBER Working Paper No. 16452

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Behrman, Jere R.; Mitchell, Olivia S.; Soo, Cindy; Bravo, David

2010-01-01

Financial literacy and schooling attainment have been linked to household wealth accumulation. Yet prior findings may be biased due to noisy measures of financial literacy and schooling, as well as unobserved factors such as ability, intelligence, and motivation that could enhance financial literacy and schooling but also directly affect wealth…

Determinants of Thailand household healthcare expenditure: the relevance of permanent resources and other correlates.

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Okunade, Albert A; Suraratdecha, Chutima; Benson, David A

2010-03-01

Several papers in the leading health economics journals modeled the determinants of healthcare expenditure using household survey or family budgets data of developed countries. Past work largely used self-reported current income as the core determinant, whereas the theoretically correct concept of household resource constraint is permanent or long-run income (á lá Milton Friedman). This paper strives to rectify the theoretical oversight of using current income by augmenting the model with household asset. Using longitudinal data, we constructed 'wealth index' as a distinct covariate to capture the households' tendency to liquidate assets when defraying necessary healthcare liabilities after exhausting cash incomes. (Current income and assets together capture the household expanded resource base). Using 98 632 household observations from Thailand Socio-Economic Surveys (1994-2000 biennial data cycles) we found, using a double-hurdle model with dependent errors, that out-of-pocket healthcare spending behaves as a technical necessity across income quintiles and household sizes. Pre-1997 economic shock income elasticities are smaller than the post-shock estimates across income quintiles for large and small households. Proximity to death, median age, and assets are also among other significant determinants. Our novel findings extend the theoretical consistency of a multi-level decision model in household healthcare expenditure in the developing Asian country context. (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mental Health Following Acquisition of Disability in Adulthood—The Impact of Wealth

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Kavanagh, Anne Marie; Aitken, Zoe; Krnjacki, Lauren; LaMontagne, Anthony Daniel; Bentley, Rebecca; Milner, Allison

2015-01-01

Background Acquisition of a disability in adulthood has been associated with a reduction in mental health. We tested the hypothesis that low wealth prior to disability acquisition is associated with a greater deterioration in mental health than for people with high wealth. Methods We assess whether level of wealth prior to disability acquisition modifies this association using 12 waves of data (2001–2012) from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey–a population-based cohort study of working-age Australians. Eligible participants reported at least two consecutive waves of disability preceded by at least two consecutive waves without disability (1977 participants, 13,518 observations). Fixed-effects linear regression was conducted with a product term between wealth prior to disability (in tertiles) and disability acquisition with the mental health component score of the SF–36 as the outcome. Results In models adjusted for time-varying confounders, there was evidence of negative effect measure modification by prior wealth of the association between disability acquisition and mental health (interaction term for lowest wealth tertile: -2.2 points, 95% CI -3.1 points, -1.2, pwealth was associated with a greater decline in mental health following disability acquisition (-3.3 points, 95% CI -4.0, -2.5) than high wealth (-1.1 points, 95% CI -1.7, -0.5). Conclusion The findings suggest that low wealth prior to disability acquisition in adulthood results in a greater deterioration in mental health than among those with high wealth. PMID:26444990

Mental Health Following Acquisition of Disability in Adulthood--The Impact of Wealth.

Science.gov (United States)

Kavanagh, Anne Marie; Aitken, Zoe; Krnjacki, Lauren; LaMontagne, Anthony Daniel; Bentley, Rebecca; Milner, Allison

2015-01-01

Acquisition of a disability in adulthood has been associated with a reduction in mental health. We tested the hypothesis that low wealth prior to disability acquisition is associated with a greater deterioration in mental health than for people with high wealth. We assess whether level of wealth prior to disability acquisition modifies this association using 12 waves of data (2001-2012) from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey--a population-based cohort study of working-age Australians. Eligible participants reported at least two consecutive waves of disability preceded by at least two consecutive waves without disability (1977 participants, 13,518 observations). Fixed-effects linear regression was conducted with a product term between wealth prior to disability (in tertiles) and disability acquisition with the mental health component score of the SF-36 as the outcome. In models adjusted for time-varying confounders, there was evidence of negative effect measure modification by prior wealth of the association between disability acquisition and mental health (interaction term for lowest wealth tertile: -2.2 points, 95% CI -3.1 points, -1.2, pwealth was associated with a greater decline in mental health following disability acquisition (-3.3 points, 95% CI -4.0, -2.5) than high wealth (-1.1 points, 95% CI -1.7, -0.5). The findings suggest that low wealth prior to disability acquisition in adulthood results in a greater deterioration in mental health than among those with high wealth.

The household-based socio-economic deprivation index in Setiu Wetlands, Malaysia

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Zakaria, Syerrina; May, Chin Sin; Rahman, Nuzlinda Abdul

2017-08-01

Deprivation index usually used in public health study. At the same time, deprivation index can also use to measure the level of deprivation in an area or a village. These indices are also referred as the index of inequalities or disadvantage. Even though, there are many indices that have been built before. But it is believed to be less appropriate to use the existing indices to be applied in other countries or areas which had different socio-economic conditions and different geographical characteristics. The objective of this study is to construct the index based on the socio-economic factors in Setiu Wetlands (Jajaran Merang, Jajaran Setiu and Jajaran Kuala Besut) in Terengganu Malaysia which is defined as weighted household-based socioeconomic deprivation index. This study has employed the variables based on income level, education level and employment rate obtained from questionnaire which are acquired from 64 villages included 1024 respondents. The factor analysis is used to extract the latent variables or observed variables into smaller amount of components or factors. By using factor analysis, one factor is extracted from 3 latent variables. This factor known as socioeconomic deprivation index. Based on the result, the areas with a lower index values until high index values were identified.

Five essays on fiscal policy, intergenerational welfare and petroleum wealth

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thoegersen, Oe

1994-12-01

Motivated by current macro economic problems facing the Norwegian economy, this thesis deals with fiscal policy and the management of petroleum wealth in a small open resource economy. The thesis highlights the fact that considerable parts of the petroleum revenues are collected by the government and studies in particular the interaction between fiscal policy, uncertain petroleum revenues and welfare between generations. Essay 1 is a paper on the calculation of the Norwegian petroleum wealth and surveys economic effects of the development of the petroleum sector and the spending of the petroleum revenues. Essay 2 deals with the effects of uncertain government petroleum revenues on fiscal policy, wealth accumulation and inter generational welfare. In Essay 3 a discussion is given of the effects of oil price risk on international risk sharing. Petroleum importing and exporting countries are considered within OECD-Europe. A possible wealth consumption policy is found to have serious and long-lasting negative effects on the welfare of coming generations, as described in Essay 4. Finally, Essay 5 considers a dynamic dependent economy model extended to incorporate finite horizons of the households and structural adjustment costs in production. 121 refs., 19 figs., 10 tabs.

Degree and wealth distribution in a network induced by wealth

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Gyemin; Kim, Gwang Il

2007-09-01

A network induced by wealth is a social network model in which wealth induces individuals to participate as nodes, and every node in the network produces and accumulates wealth utilizing its links. More specifically, at every time step a new node is added to the network, and a link is created between one of the existing nodes and the new node. Innate wealth-producing ability is randomly assigned to every new node, and the node to be connected to the new node is chosen randomly, with odds proportional to the accumulated wealth of each existing node. Analyzing this network using the mean value and continuous flow approaches, we derive a relation between the conditional expectations of the degree and the accumulated wealth of each node. From this relation, we show that the degree distribution of the network induced by wealth is scale-free. We also show that the wealth distribution has a power-law tail and satisfies the 80/20 rule. We also show that, over the whole range, the cumulative wealth distribution exhibits the same topological characteristics as the wealth distributions of several networks based on the Bouchaud-Mèzard model, even though the mechanism for producing wealth is quite different in our model. Further, we show that the cumulative wealth distribution for the poor and middle class seems likely to follow by a log-normal distribution, while for the richest, the cumulative wealth distribution has a power-law behavior.

Effect of an armed conflict on relative socioeconomic position of rural households: case study from western Côte d'Ivoire

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Fürst Thomas

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Current conceptual frameworks on the interrelationship between armed conflict and poverty are based primarily on aggregated macro-level data and/or qualitative evidence and usually focus on adherents of warring factions. In contrast, there is a paucity of quantitative studies about the socioeconomic consequences of armed conflict at the micro-level, i.e., noncommitted local households and civilians. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of data pertaining to risk factors for malaria and neglected tropical diseases. Standardized questionnaires were administered to 182 households in a rural part of western Côte d'Ivoire in August 2002 and again in early 2004. Between the two surveys, the area was subject to intensive fighting in the Ivorian civil war. Principal component analysis was applied at the two time points for constructing an asset-based wealth-index and categorizing the households in wealth quintiles. Based on quintile changes, the households were labeled as 'worse-off', 'even' or 'better-off'. Statistical analysis tested for significant associations between the socioeconomic fates of households and head of household characteristics, household composition, village characteristics and self-reported events associated with the armed conflict. Most-poor/least-poor ratios and concentration indices were calculated to assess equity changes in households' asset possession. Results Of 203 households initially included in the first survey, 21 were lost to follow-up. The population in the remaining 182 households shrunk from 1,749 to 1,625 persons due to migration and natural population changes. However, only weak socioeconomic dynamics were observed; every seventh household was defined as 'worse-off' or 'better-off' despite the war-time circumstances. Analysis of other reported demographic and economic characteristics did not clearly identify more or less resilient households, and only subtle equity shifts were noted

Socioeconomic inequalities in skilled birth attendance and child stunting in selected low and middle income countries: Wealth quintiles or deciles?

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Wong, Kerry L M; Restrepo-Méndez, María Clara; Barros, Aluísio J D; Victora, Cesar G

2017-01-01

Wealth quintiles derived from household asset indices are routinely used for measuring socioeconomic inequalities in the health of women and children in low and middle-income countries. We explore whether the use of wealth deciles rather than quintiles may be advantageous. We selected 46 countries with available national surveys carried out between 2003 and 2013 and with a sample size of at least 3000 children. The outcomes were prevalence of under-five stunting and delivery by a skilled birth attendant (SBA). Differences and ratios between extreme groups for deciles (D1 and D10) and quintiles (Q1 and Q5) were calculated, as well as two summary measures: the slope index of inequality (SII) and concentration index (CIX). In virtually all countries, stunting prevalence was highest among the poor, and there were larger differences between D1 and D10 than between Q1 and Q5. SBA coverage showed pro-rich patterns in all countries; in four countries the gap was greater than 80 pct points. With one exception, differences between extreme deciles were larger than between quintiles. Similar patterns emerged when using ratios instead of differences. The two summary measures provide very similar results for quintiles and deciles. Patterns of top or bottom inequality varied with national coverage levels. Researchers and policymakers should consider breakdowns by wealth deciles, when sample sizes allow. Use of deciles may contribute to advocacy efforts, monitoring inequalities over time, and targeting health interventions. Summary indices of inequalities were unaffected by the use of quintiles or deciles in their calculation.

Socioeconomic inequalities in skilled birth attendance and child stunting in selected low and middle income countries: Wealth quintiles or deciles?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerry L M Wong

Full Text Available Wealth quintiles derived from household asset indices are routinely used for measuring socioeconomic inequalities in the health of women and children in low and middle-income countries. We explore whether the use of wealth deciles rather than quintiles may be advantageous.We selected 46 countries with available national surveys carried out between 2003 and 2013 and with a sample size of at least 3000 children. The outcomes were prevalence of under-five stunting and delivery by a skilled birth attendant (SBA. Differences and ratios between extreme groups for deciles (D1 and D10 and quintiles (Q1 and Q5 were calculated, as well as two summary measures: the slope index of inequality (SII and concentration index (CIX.In virtually all countries, stunting prevalence was highest among the poor, and there were larger differences between D1 and D10 than between Q1 and Q5. SBA coverage showed pro-rich patterns in all countries; in four countries the gap was greater than 80 pct points. With one exception, differences between extreme deciles were larger than between quintiles. Similar patterns emerged when using ratios instead of differences. The two summary measures provide very similar results for quintiles and deciles. Patterns of top or bottom inequality varied with national coverage levels.Researchers and policymakers should consider breakdowns by wealth deciles, when sample sizes allow. Use of deciles may contribute to advocacy efforts, monitoring inequalities over time, and targeting health interventions. Summary indices of inequalities were unaffected by the use of quintiles or deciles in their calculation.

Econophysics of Income and Wealth Distributions

Science.gov (United States)

Chakrabarti, Bikas K.; Chakraborti, Anirban; Chakravarty, Satya R.; Chatterjee, Arnab

2013-03-01

1. Introduction; 2. Income and wealth distribution data for different countries; 3. Major socio-economic modellings; 4. Market exchanges and scattering process; 5. Analytic structure of the kinetic exchange market models; 6. Microeconomic foundation of the kinetic exchange models; 7. Dynamics: generation of income, inequality and development; 8. Outlook; References; Index.

Effects of Spatial Location and Household Wealth on the Utilisation ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

USER

skilled birth attendants at delivery among rural women in Ghana. The paper made use of .... to be paid to rural areas regarding skilled attendance at delivery, there is a paucity of empirical ..... Spatial inequality and household poverty in. Ghana.

Financial Position and House Price Determination : An Empirical Study of Income and Wealth Effects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steegmans, J.W.A.M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/377458708; Hassink, W.H.J.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/090437411

This paper examines the effect of the relative financial position of buyers and sellers on house prices, distinguishing between income and wealth effects. Using administrative data from the Netherlands (2006–2010) that combine transaction data, house characteristics, and household characteristics of

Household food (in)security and nutritional status of urban poor children aged 6 to 23 months in Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Mutisya, Maurice; Kandala, Ngianga-Bakwin; Ngware, Moses Waithanji; Kabiru, Caroline W

2015-10-13

Millions of people in low and low middle income countries suffer from extreme hunger and malnutrition. Research on the effect of food insecurity on child nutrition is concentrated in high income settings and has produced mixed results. Moreover, the existing evidence on food security and nutrition in children in low and middle income countries is either cross-sectional and/or is based primarily on rural populations. In this paper, we examine the effect of household food security status and its interaction with household wealth status on stunting among children aged between 6 and 23 months in resource-poor urban setting in Kenya. We use longitudinal data collected between 2006 and 2012 from two informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. Mothers and their new-borns were recruited into the study at birth and followed prospectively. The analytical sample comprised 6858 children from 6552 households. Household food security was measured as a latent variable derived from a set of questions capturing the main domains of access, availability and affordability. A composite measure of wealth was calculated using asset ownership and amenities. Nutritional status was measured using Height-for-Age (HFA) z-scores. Children whose HFA z-scores were below -2 standard deviation were categorized as stunted. We used Cox regression to analyse the data. The prevalence of stunting was 49 %. The risk of stunting increased by 12 % among children from food insecure households. When the joint effect of food security and wealth status was assessed, the risk of stunting increased significantly by 19 and 22 % among children from moderately food insecure and severely food insecure households and ranked in the middle poor wealth status. Among the poorest and least poor households, food security was not statistically associated with stunting. Our results shed light on the joint effect of food security and wealth status on stunting. Study findings underscore the need for social protection policies to

Impacts of Community-Based Natural Resource Management on Wealth, Food Security and Child Health in Tanzania.

Science.gov (United States)

Pailler, Sharon; Naidoo, Robin; Burgess, Neil D; Freeman, Olivia E; Fisher, Brendan

2015-01-01

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is a major global strategy for enhancing conservation outcomes while also seeking to improve rural livelihoods; however, little evidence of socioeconomic outcomes exists. We present a national-level analysis that empirically estimates socioeconomic impacts of CBNRM across Tanzania, while systematically controlling for potential sources of bias. Specifically, we apply a difference-in-differences model to national-scale, cross-sectional data to estimate the impact of three different CBNRM governance regimes on wealth, food security and child health, considering differential impacts of CBNRM on wealthy and poor populations. We also explore whether or not longer-standing CBNRM efforts provide more benefits than recently-established CBNRM areas. Our results show significant improvements in household food security in CBNRM areas compared with non-CBNRM areas, but household wealth and health outcomes in children are generally not significantly different. No one CBNRM governance regime demonstrates consistently different welfare outcomes than the others. Wealthy households benefit more from CBNRM than poor households and CBNRM benefits appear to increase with longer periods of implementation. Perhaps evidence of CBNRM benefits is limited because CBNRM hasn't been around long enough to yield demonstrable outcomes. Nonetheless, achieving demonstrable benefits to rural populations will be crucial for CBNRM's future success in Tanzania.

Predicting poverty and wealth from mobile phone metadata.

Science.gov (United States)

Blumenstock, Joshua; Cadamuro, Gabriel; On, Robert

2015-11-27

Accurate and timely estimates of population characteristics are a critical input to social and economic research and policy. In industrialized economies, novel sources of data are enabling new approaches to demographic profiling, but in developing countries, fewer sources of big data exist. We show that an individual's past history of mobile phone use can be used to infer his or her socioeconomic status. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the predicted attributes of millions of individuals can, in turn, accurately reconstruct the distribution of wealth of an entire nation or to infer the asset distribution of microregions composed of just a few households. In resource-constrained environments where censuses and household surveys are rare, this approach creates an option for gathering localized and timely information at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Simplified Asset Indices to Measure Wealth and Equity in Health Programs: A Reliability and Validity Analysis Using Survey Data From 16 Countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Chakraborty, Nirali M; Fry, Kenzo; Behl, Rasika; Longfield, Kim

2016-03-01

Social franchising programs in low- and middle-income countries have tried using the standard wealth index, based on the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) questionnaire, in client exit interviews to assess clients' relative wealth compared with the national wealth distribution to ensure equity in service delivery. The large number of survey questions required to capture the wealth index variables have proved cumbersome for programs. Using an adaptation of the Delphi method, we developed shortened wealth indices and in February 2015 consulted 15 stakeholders in equity measurement. Together, we selected the best of 5 alternative indices, accompanied by 2 measures of agreement (percent agreement and Cohen's kappa statistic) comparing wealth quintile assignment in the new indices to the full DHS index. The panel agreed that reducing the number of assets was more important than standardization across countries because a short index would provide strong indication of client wealth and be easier to collect and use in the field. Additionally, the panel agreed that the simplified index should be highly correlated with the DHS for each country (kappa ≥ 0.75) for both national and urban-specific samples. We then revised indices for 16 countries and selected the minimum number of questions and question options required to achieve a kappa statistic ≥ 0.75 for both national and urban populations. After combining the 5 wealth quintiles into 3 groups, which the expert panel deemed more programmatically meaningful, reliability between the standard DHS wealth index and each of 3 simplified indices was high (median kappa = 0.81, 086, and 0.77, respectively, for index B that included only the common questions from the DHS VI questionnaire, index D that included the common questions plus country-specific questions, and index E that found the shortest list of common and country-specific questions that met the minimum reliability criteria of kappa ≥ 0.75). Index E was the

Simplified Asset Indices to Measure Wealth and Equity in Health Programs: A Reliability and Validity Analysis Using Survey Data From 16 Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Chakraborty, Nirali M; Fry, Kenzo; Behl, Rasika; Longfield, Kim

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: Social franchising programs in low- and middle-income countries have tried using the standard wealth index, based on the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) questionnaire, in client exit interviews to assess clients’ relative wealth compared with the national wealth distribution to ensure equity in service delivery. The large number of survey questions required to capture the wealth index variables have proved cumbersome for programs. Methods: Using an adaptation of the Delphi method, we developed shortened wealth indices and in February 2015 consulted 15 stakeholders in equity measurement. Together, we selected the best of 5 alternative indices, accompanied by 2 measures of agreement (percent agreement and Cohen’s kappa statistic) comparing wealth quintile assignment in the new indices to the full DHS index. The panel agreed that reducing the number of assets was more important than standardization across countries because a short index would provide strong indication of client wealth and be easier to collect and use in the field. Additionally, the panel agreed that the simplified index should be highly correlated with the DHS for each country (kappa ≥ 0.75) for both national and urban-specific samples. We then revised indices for 16 countries and selected the minimum number of questions and question options required to achieve a kappa statistic ≥ 0.75 for both national and urban populations. Findings: After combining the 5 wealth quintiles into 3 groups, which the expert panel deemed more programmatically meaningful, reliability between the standard DHS wealth index and each of 3 simplified indices was high (median kappa = 0.81, 086, and 0.77, respectively, for index B that included only the common questions from the DHS VI questionnaire, index D that included the common questions plus country-specific questions, and index E that found the shortest list of common and country-specific questions that met the minimum reliability

Household Portfolios and Risk Bearing over Age and Time

OpenAIRE

Alessandro Bucciol; Raffaele Miniaci

2011-01-01

We exploit the US Survey of Consumer Finances from 1998 to 2007 to study households’ portfolio risk bearing. We compare four alternative measures of risk, two based on a financial portfolio and two based on a broader portfolio also including – as illiquid assets – human capital, real estate, business wealth and related debt. The measures provide a different ranking of household risk bearing, but they consistently show that risk bearing fell after 2001, and it positively correlates with wealth...

More Opportunities than Wealth. A Network of Power and Frustration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mahault, Benoit Alexandre [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Saxena, Avadh Behari [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Nisoli, Cristiano [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2015-08-17

We introduce a minimal agent-based model to qualitatively conceptualize the allocation of limited wealth among more abundant opportunities. We study the interplay of power, satisfaction and frustration in the problem of wealth distribution, concentration, and inequality. This framework allows us to compare subjective measures of frustration and satisfaction to collective measures of fairness in wealth distribution, such as the Lorenz curve and the Gini index. We find that a completely libertarian, law-of-the-jungle setting, where every agent can acquire wealth from, or lose wealth to, anybody else invariably leads to a complete polarization of the distribution of wealth vs. opportunity, only minimally ameliorated by disorder in a non-optimized society. The picture is however dramatically modified when hard constraints are imposed over agents, and they are forced to share wealth with neighbors on a network. We discuss the case of random networks and scale free networks. We then propose an out of equilibrium dynamics of the networks, based on a competition of power and frustration in the decision-making of agents that leads to network evolution. We show that the ratio of power and frustration controls different dynamical regimes separated by kinetic transition and characterized by drastically different values of the indices of equality.

To consume or not. How oil prices affect the comovement of consumption and aggregate wealth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Odusami, Babatunde Olatunji

2010-01-01

This paper provides insight into how oil price movements affect the consumption choices of U.S. households through the wealth channel. Lettau and Ludvigson (2001) show that while consumption, asset wealth, and labor income share a common long-term trend; they substantially deviate from one another in the short run. In this paper, I show that these transitory deviations can be explained by fluctuations in the price of crude oil. Linear and threshold multivariate autoregressive models are used to measure the oil price effect. Oil price effect on the consumption to aggregate wealth ratio is robust to monetary policy effect, sub-period effect, and econometric specifications of oil price effect. Generally speaking, higher (lower) oil price will lead to a decrease (increase) in the proportion of aggregate wealth consumed. In addition, the magnitude of the oil price effect is asymmetric and sub-period dependent. Oil price effect was higher before the 1980's than in succeeding periods. (author)

Inherited Wealth

OpenAIRE

Beckert, J.

2008-01-01

How to regulate the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next has been hotly debated among politicians, legal scholars, sociologists, economists, and philosophers for centuries. Bequeathing wealth is a vital ingredient of family solidarity. But does the reproduction of social inequality through inheritance square with the principle of equal opportunity? Does democracy suffer when family wealth becomes political power? The first in-depth, comparative study of the development of inheri...

Household Consumption and Savings Around the Time of Births and the Role of Education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kalwij, A.S.

2003-01-01

This study examines households’ financial situation around the time of births using a panel of Dutch households over the period 1987-1993. I find that at all levels of education households accumulate wealth before and draw on their liquid savings after having given birth to their first child.

Household consumption and savings around the time of births and the role of education.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kalwij, A.S.

2003-01-01

This study examines households’ financial situation around the time of births using a panel of Dutch households over the period 1987-1993. I find that at all levels of education households accumulate wealth before and draw on their liquid savings after having given birth to their first child.

Wealth and Its Associations with Enteric Parasitic Infections in a Low-Income Community in Peru: Use of Principal Component Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Nundy, Shantanu; Gilman, Robert H.; Xiao, Lihua; Cabrera, Lilia; Cama, Rosa; Ortega, Ynes R.; Kahn, Geoffrey; Cama, Vitaliano A.

2011-01-01

The association of wealth and infections with Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, and microsporidia were examined in a longitudinal cohort conducted in Peru from 2001 to 2006. Data from 492 participants were daily clinical manifestations, weekly copro-parasitological diagnosis, and housing characteristics and assets owned (48 variables), and these data were used to construct a global wealth index using principal component analysis. Data were analyzed using continuous and categorical (wealth tertiles) models. Participant's mean age was 3.43 years (range = 0–12 years), with average follow-up of 993 days. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified significant associations between wealth and infections with Giardia and microsporidia. Participants with greater wealth indexes were associated with protection against Giardia (P 14 days). For microsporidia, greater wealth was protective (P = 0.066 continuous and P = 0.042 by tertiles). Contrarily, infections with Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora were independent of wealth. Thus, subtle differences in wealth may affect the frequency of specific parasitic infections within low-income communities. PMID:21212198

Utilisation of health services and the poor: deconstructing wealth-based differences in facility-based delivery in the Philippines.

Science.gov (United States)

Hodge, Andrew; Firth, Sonja; Bermejo, Raoul; Zeck, Willibald; Jimenez-Soto, Eliana

2016-07-06

Despite achieving some success, wealth-related disparities in the utilisation of maternal and child health services persist in the Philippines. The aim of this study is to decompose the principal factors driving the wealth-based utilisation gap. Using national representative data from the 2013 Philippines Demographic and Health Survey, we examine the extent overall differences in the utilisation of maternal health services can be explained by observable factors. We apply nonlinear Blinder-Oaxaca-type decomposition methods to quantify the effect of differences in measurable characteristics on the wealth-based coverage gap in facility-based delivery. The mean coverage of facility-based deliveries was respectively 41.1 % and 74.6 % for poor and non-poor households. Between 67 and 69 % of the wealth-based coverage gap was explained by differences in observed characteristics. After controlling for factors characterising the socioeconomic status of the household (i.e. the mothers' and her partners' education and occupation), the birth order of the child was the major factor contributing to the disparity. Mothers' religion and the subjective distance to the health facility were also noteworthy. This study has found moderate wealth-based disparities in the utilisation of institutional delivery in the Philippines. The results confirm the importance of recent efforts made by the Philippine government to implement equitable, pro-poor focused health programs in the most deprived geographic areas of the country. The importance of addressing the social determinants of health, particularly education, as well as developing and implementing effective strategies to encourage institutional delivery for higher order births, should be prioritised.

Kesejahteraan Rumah Tangga dalam Pengaruh Wanita Kepala Rumah Tangga

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agung Priyo Utomo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study focused on the welfare of the household headed by a working widow, viewed through the assets and the quality of their residence. Household welfare level is based on the wealth index. Ordinal logistic regression analysis show that level of education, age and employment status significantly influence the level of wealth of households headed by them. The higher the educational level of a widow, the household will tend to be richer. The older widows, the smaller tendency to have poor household. Households headed by widows who work in the agricultural sector, have a greater tendency to get a lower level of wealth status compared with who work in the non-agricultural sector.

Socioemotional Wealth and Firms’ Control: Evidence from Malaysian Chinese Owned Companies

OpenAIRE

Goh, Chin Fei; Rasli, Amran; Tan, Owee Kowang; Choi, Sang Long

2015-01-01

This paper explores how the preservation of socioemotional wealth can be manifested in the control and corporate governance of Malaysian Chinese firms. Using panel data from the Industrial Products index of the Bursa Malaysia (the Malaysian stock exchange) during 2003-2006, we show that the ingrained ‘life-raft values’ among overseas Chinese entrepreneurs can be associated with the preservation of their socioemotional wealth, and thus they prioritize control over their firms. Additionally, we...

The impact of diminished housing wealth on health in the United States: evidence from the Great Recession.

Science.gov (United States)

Yilmazer, Tansel; Babiarz, Patryk; Liu, Fen

2015-04-01

The sharp decline in home values in many industrialized and developing countries was one of the most evident facets of the global economic recession of 2008. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) for 2007-2011, this study examines how the decline in housing wealth affected the psychological and physical health and health-related behaviors of 4007 U.S. households who were homeowners in 2007. We focus on two mechanisms that could account for how the drop in housing wealth affects health: increase in stress and negative changes in health-related behaviors. Controlling for the changes in non-housing wealth and employment status during the recession, the decline in housing wealth is associated with a small but statistically significant increase in psychological distress. Psychological health deteriorates more as the housing wealth relative to total wealth decreases. Finally, homeowners who have difficulties with mortgage payments report substantial increases in psychological distress and have higher rates of depression. These findings, combined with limited evidence of the change in health-related behaviors, suggest that the increase in stress is the main cause of the adverse health outcomes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changes in wealth distribution in Italy (2002-2012 and who gained from the Great Recession

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ignazio Drudi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to analyze changes in families’ assets between 2002 and 2012; to measure changes in the degree of inequality; and to identify which social groups (or classes have gained from these changes, using the decomposition procedure of the Gini concentration ratio proposed by Dagum (1997. The paper introduces two important methodological innovations. First, the definition of household wealth employed here is net wealth minus the value of the household’s home (if owned. Second, we develop a new method for computing the Gini coefficient in presence of negative values, and for decomposing it. JEL Classification: D10, D31

Richer but fatter: the unintended consequences of microcredit financing on household health and expenditure in Jamaica.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon-Strachan, Georgiana; Cunningham-Myrie, Colette; Fox, Kristin; Kirton, Claremont; Fraser, Raphael; McLeod, Georgia; Forrester, Terrence

2015-01-01

To determine whether there was a difference in wealth and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk between microcredit loan beneficiaries and community-matched non-beneficiaries (controls). Seven hundred and twenty-six households of microcredit loan beneficiaries were matched with 726 controls by age, sex and community. A standardised interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data on health and household expenditure. Weights, heights, waist circumference and blood pressure measurements were taken for an adult and one child (6-16 years) from each household. Amongst adults, there was no difference in the prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension. More male (68.1% vs. 47.8%) and female beneficiaries (84.5% vs. 77.9%) were overweight/obese. More male (17.2% vs. 7.1%; P Microcredit financing is positively associated with wealth acquisition but worsened cardiovascular risk status. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Behavioral and network origins of wealth inequality: insights from a virtual world.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benedikt Fuchs

Full Text Available Almost universally, wealth is not distributed uniformly within societies or economies. Even though wealth data have been collected in various forms for centuries, the origins for the observed wealth-disparity and social inequality are not yet fully understood. Especially the impact and connections of human behavior on wealth could so far not be inferred from data. Here we study wealth data from the virtual economy of the massive multiplayer online game (MMOG Pardus. This data not only contains every player's wealth at every point in time, but also all actions over a timespan of almost a decade. We find that wealth distributions in the virtual world are very similar to those in Western countries. In particular we find an approximate exponential distribution for low wealth levels and a power-law tail for high levels. The Gini index is found to be g = 0.65, which is close to the indices of many Western countries. We find that wealth-increase rates depend on the time when players entered the game. Players that entered the game early on tend to have remarkably higher wealth-increase rates than those who joined later. Studying the players' positions within their social networks, we find that the local position in the trade network is most relevant for wealth. Wealthy people have high in- and out-degrees in the trade network, relatively low nearest-neighbor degrees, and low clustering coefficients. Wealthy players have many mutual friendships and are socially well respected by others, but spend more time on business than on socializing. Wealthy players have few personal enemies, but show animosity towards players that behave as public enemies. We find that players that are not organized within social groups are significantly poorer on average. We observe that "political" status and wealth go hand in hand.

Behavioral and network origins of wealth inequality: insights from a virtual world.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuchs, Benedikt; Thurner, Stefan

2014-01-01

Almost universally, wealth is not distributed uniformly within societies or economies. Even though wealth data have been collected in various forms for centuries, the origins for the observed wealth-disparity and social inequality are not yet fully understood. Especially the impact and connections of human behavior on wealth could so far not be inferred from data. Here we study wealth data from the virtual economy of the massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) Pardus. This data not only contains every player's wealth at every point in time, but also all actions over a timespan of almost a decade. We find that wealth distributions in the virtual world are very similar to those in Western countries. In particular we find an approximate exponential distribution for low wealth levels and a power-law tail for high levels. The Gini index is found to be g = 0.65, which is close to the indices of many Western countries. We find that wealth-increase rates depend on the time when players entered the game. Players that entered the game early on tend to have remarkably higher wealth-increase rates than those who joined later. Studying the players' positions within their social networks, we find that the local position in the trade network is most relevant for wealth. Wealthy people have high in- and out-degrees in the trade network, relatively low nearest-neighbor degrees, and low clustering coefficients. Wealthy players have many mutual friendships and are socially well respected by others, but spend more time on business than on socializing. Wealthy players have few personal enemies, but show animosity towards players that behave as public enemies. We find that players that are not organized within social groups are significantly poorer on average. We observe that "political" status and wealth go hand in hand.

The Role of Bequests in Shaping Wealth Inequality: Evidence from Danish Wealth Records

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boserup, Simon Halphen; Kopczuk, Wojciech; Kreiner, Claus Thustrup

2016-01-01

Using Danish administrative data, we estimate the impact of bequests on the level and inequality of wealth. We compare the distributions of wealth over time of people whose parent died and those whose parent did not. Bequests account for 26 percent of the average post-bequest wealth 1-3 years after...... parental death and significantly affect wealth throughout the distribution. Bequests increase absolute wealth inequality (variance of the distribution censored at the top/bottom 1% increases by 33 percent), but reduce relative inequality (the top 1% share declines by 6 percentage points from the base of 31...

How certain are Dutch households about future income? An emprical analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Das, J.W.M.; Donkers, A.C.D.

1996-01-01

The precautionary saving literature shows that income uncertainty increases savings and wealth. To estimate the magnitude of this effect, we need a measure of income uncertainty. This paper empirically analyzes subjective income uncertainty in the Netherlands. Data come from a large Dutch household

Explaining the Gender Wealth Gap

Science.gov (United States)

Ruel, Erin; Hauser, Robert M.

2013-01-01

To assess and explain the United States’ gender wealth gap, we use the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to examine wealth accumulated by a single cohort over 50 years by gender, by marital status, and limited to the respondents who are their family’s best financial reporters. We find large gender wealth gaps between currently married men and women, and never-married men and women. The never-married accumulate less wealth than the currently married, and there is a marital disruption cost to wealth accumulation. The status-attainment model shows the most power in explaining gender wealth gaps between these groups explaining about one-third to one-half of the gap, followed by the human-capital explanation. In other words, a lifetime of lower earnings for women translates into greatly reduced wealth accumulation. A gender wealth gap remains between married men and women after controlling for the full model that we speculate may be related to gender differences in investment strategies and selection effects. PMID:23264038

Economic well-being and elder abuse in Rajshahi district of Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Tareque, Md Ismail; Islam, Towfiqua Mahfuza; Koshio, Atsushi; Kawahara, Kazuo

2015-02-01

This article examines the distribution of wealth and then tests associations between elder abuse and wealth in Rajshahi district of Bangladesh. Data from 896 respondents (60 years old and over) were collected in April 2009. Principal component analysis was used to construct a wealth index, and logistic regressions were performed to test the associations between wealth and elder abuse. Results reveal that about 62% of individuals from poor households face abuse of some kind, whereas only 6% of individuals from rich households do. The test of the relationship between elder abuse and wealth also suggests that individuals from rich households were more likely not to be abused than individuals from poor households. Results of this study may be useful to policy makers developing policies and programs aimed at preventing elder abuse and reducing inequalities in elder abuse in Rajshahi district as well as in the whole of Bangladesh. © The Author(s) 2014.

The relationship between wealth and loneliness among older people across Europe: Is social participation protective?

Science.gov (United States)

Niedzwiedz, Claire L; Richardson, Elizabeth A; Tunstall, Helena; Shortt, Niamh K; Mitchell, Richard J; Pearce, Jamie R

2016-10-01

1. Examine the relationship between household wealth, social participation and loneliness among older people across Europe. 2. Investigate whether relationships vary by type of social participation (charity/volunteer work, sports/social clubs, educational/training course, and political/community organisations) and gender. 3. Examine whether social participation moderates the association between wealth and loneliness. Data (N=29,795) were taken from the fifth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which was collected during 2013 from 14 European countries. Loneliness was measured using the short version of the Revised-University of California, Los Angeles (R-UCLA) Loneliness Scale. We used multilevel logistic models stratified by gender to examine the relationships between variables, with individuals nested within countries. The risk of loneliness was highest in the least wealthy groups and lowest in the wealthiest groups. Frequent social participation was associated with a lower risk of loneliness and moderated the association between household wealth and loneliness, particularly among men. Compared to the wealthiest men who often took part in formal social activities, the least wealthy men who did not participate had greater risk of loneliness (OR=1.91, 95% CI: 1.44 to 2.51). This increased risk was not observed among the least wealthy men who reported frequent participation in formal social activities (OR=1.12, 95% CI: 0.76 to 1.67). Participation in external social activities may help to reduce loneliness among older adults and potentially acts as a buffer against the adverse effects of socioeconomic disadvantage. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Education modifies the association of wealth with obesity in women in middle-income but not low-income countries: an interaction study using seven national datasets, 2005-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Aitsi-Selmi, Amina; Bell, Ruth; Shipley, Martin J; Marmot, Michael G

2014-01-01

Education and wealth may have different associations with female obesity but this has not been investigated in detail outside high-income countries. This study examines the separate and inter-related associations of education and household wealth in relation to obesity in women in a representative sample of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The seven largest national surveys were selected from a list of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) ordered by decreasing sample size and resulted in a range of country income levels. These were nationally representative data of women aged 15-49 years collected in the period 2005-2010. The separate and joint effects, unadjusted and adjusted for age group, parity, and urban/rural residence using a multivariate logistic regression model are presented. In the four middle-income countries (Colombia, Peru, Jordan, and Egypt), an interaction was found between education and wealth on obesity (P-value for interaction education the wealth effect was positive whereas in the group with higher education it was either absent or inverted (negative). In the poorer countries (India, Nigeria, Benin), there was no evidence of an interaction. Instead, the associations between each of education and wealth with obesity were independent and positive. There was a statistically significant difference between the average interaction estimates for the low-income and middle-income countries (Peducation may protect against the obesogenic effects of increased household wealth as countries develop. Further research could examine the factors explaining the country differences in education effects.

Impact of Weather Index Insurance on Household Demand for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

EJBE

confidence about the compensation for expected loss from future weather condition .... found in western zone of Tigray, where the dominant crops are barley and teff. ... (such as age and sex of the household head, schooling level of household.

Energy, complexity and wealth maximization

CERN Document Server

Ayres, Robert

2016-01-01

This book is about the mechanisms of wealth creation, or what we like to think of as evolutionary “progress”. For the modern economy, natural wealth consists of complex physical structures of condensed (“frozen”) energy – mass - maintained in the earth’s crust far from thermodynamic equilibrium. However, we usually perceive wealth as created when mutation or “invention” – a change agent - introduces something different, and fitter, and usually after some part of the natural wealth of the planet has been exploited in an episode of “creative destruction”. Selection out of the resulting diversity is determined by survival in a competitive environment, whether a planet, a habitat, or a market. While human wealth is associated with money and what it can buy, it is ultimately based on natural wealth, both as materials transformed into useful artifacts, and how those artifacts, activated by energy, can create and transmit useful information. Humans have learned how to transform natural wealth i...

Economic inequality and child stunting in Bangladesh and Kenya: an investigation of six hypotheses.

Science.gov (United States)

Reinbold, Gary W

2011-01-01

Consistent with the increasing focus on issues of equity in developing countries, I extend the literature analyzing the relationship between economic inequality and individual health to the developing world. Using survey data from Bangladesh and Kenya with economic status measured by a wealth index and with three different geographic definitions of community, I analyze six competing hypotheses for how economic inequality may be related to stunting among children younger than 5 years old. I find little support for the predominant hypothesis that economic inequality as measured by a Gini index is an important predictor of individual health. Instead, I find that the difference between a household's wealth and the mean household wealth in the community is the measure of economic inequality that is most closely related to stunting in these countries. In particular, a 1 standard deviation increase in household wealth relative to the community mean is associated with a 30–32 percent decrease in the odds of stunting in Bangladesh and a 16–21 percent decrease in the odds of stunting in Kenya.

Gamma-distribution and wealth inequality

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

the higher end of the distribution of wealth f(x) follows a power-law ... involved; services like public health and education are also counted in, and often ... between wealth inequality and economic growth, and hence the study of wealth.

Education modifies the association of wealth with obesity in women in middle-income but not low-income countries: an interaction study using seven national datasets, 2005-2010.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amina Aitsi-Selmi

Full Text Available Education and wealth may have different associations with female obesity but this has not been investigated in detail outside high-income countries. This study examines the separate and inter-related associations of education and household wealth in relation to obesity in women in a representative sample of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs.The seven largest national surveys were selected from a list of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS ordered by decreasing sample size and resulted in a range of country income levels. These were nationally representative data of women aged 15-49 years collected in the period 2005-2010. The separate and joint effects, unadjusted and adjusted for age group, parity, and urban/rural residence using a multivariate logistic regression model are presented.In the four middle-income countries (Colombia, Peru, Jordan, and Egypt, an interaction was found between education and wealth on obesity (P-value for interaction <0.001. Among women with no/primary education the wealth effect was positive whereas in the group with higher education it was either absent or inverted (negative. In the poorer countries (India, Nigeria, Benin, there was no evidence of an interaction. Instead, the associations between each of education and wealth with obesity were independent and positive. There was a statistically significant difference between the average interaction estimates for the low-income and middle-income countries (P<0.001.The findings suggest that education may protect against the obesogenic effects of increased household wealth as countries develop. Further research could examine the factors explaining the country differences in education effects.

Household portfolio allocation in the Netherlands : Saving accounts versus stocks and bonds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hochgürtel, S.; Alessie, R.J.M.; van Soest, A.H.O.

1995-01-01

This paper analyzes the portfolio structure of households in the Netherlands. It considers the allocation of financial wealth to two major asset categories, namely saving accounts on the one hand and stocks and bonds on the other hand. The latter category is considered to be more risky than the

Racial Discrimination and Low Household Education Predict Higher Body Mass Index in African American Youth.

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Nelson, Devin S; Gerras, Julia M; McGlumphy, Kellye C; Shaver, Erika R; Gill, Amaanat K; Kanneganti, Kamala; Ajibewa, Tiwaloluwa A; Hasson, Rebecca E

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between environmental factors, including household education, community violence exposure, racial discrimination, and cultural identity, and BMI in African American adolescents. A community-based sample of 198 African American youth (120 girls, 78 boys; ages 11-19 years) from Washtenaw County, Michigan, were included in this analysis. Violence exposure was assessed by using the Survey of Children's Exposure to Community Violence; racial discrimination by using the Adolescent Discrimination Distress Index; cultural identity by using the Acculturation, Habits, and Interests Multicultural Scale for Adolescents; and household education by using a seven-category variable. Measured height and body weight were used to calculate BMI. Racial discrimination was positively associated with BMI, whereas household education was inversely associated with BMI in African American adolescents (discrimination: β = 0.11 ± 0.04, p = 0.01; education: β = -1.13 ± 0.47, p = 0.02). These relationships were significant when accounting for the confounding effects of stress, activity, diet, and pubertal development. Significant gender interactions were observed with racial discrimination and low household education associated with BMI in girls only (discrimination: β = 0.16 ± 0.05, p = 0.003; education: β = -1.12 ± 0.55, p = 0.045). There were no significant relationships between culture, community violence exposure, and BMI (all p's > 0.05). Environmental factors, including racial discrimination and low household education, predicted higher BMI in African American adolescents, particularly among girls. Longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms by which these environmental factors increase obesity risk in African American youth.

Relationship between household wealth inequality and chronic childhood under-nutrition in Bangladesh

OpenAIRE

Hong, Rathavuth; Banta, James E; Betancourt, Jose A

2006-01-01

Abstract Background Household food insecurity and under-nutrition remain critically important in developing countries struggling to emerge from the scourge of poverty, where historically, improvements in economic conditions have benefited only certain privileged groups, causing growing inequality in health and healthcare among the population. Methods Utilizing information from 5,977 children aged 0-59 months included in the 2004 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey , this study examined t...

Levels and trends of childhood undernutrition by wealth and education according to a Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure: evidence from 146 Demographic and Health Surveys from 39 countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Vollmer, Sebastian; Harttgen, Kenneth; Kupka, Roland; Subramanian, S V

2017-01-01

Governments have endorsed global targets to reduce childhood undernutrition as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Understanding the socioeconomic differences in childhood undernutrition has the potential to be helpful for targeting policy to reach these goals. We specify a logistic regression model with the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) as the outcome and indicator variables for wealth quartiles, maternal education categories and a set of covariates as explanatory variables. Wealth and education variables are interacted with a period indicator for 1990-2000 compared with 2001-2014 to observe differences over time. Based on these regressions we calculate predicted CIAF prevalence by wealth and education categories and over time. The sample included 146 surveys from 39 low-income and lower-middle-income countries with an overall sample size of 533 217 children. CIAF prevalence was 47.5% in 1990-2000, and it declined to 42.6% in 2001-2014. In 1990-2000 the CIAF prevalence of children with mothers with less than primary education was 31 percentage points higher than for mothers with secondary or higher education. This difference slightly decreased to 27 percentage points in 2001-2014. The difference in predicted CIAF prevalence of children from the highest and lowest wealth quartiles was 21 percentage points and did not change over time. We find evidence for persistent and even increasing socioeconomic inequalities in childhood undernutrition, which underlines the importance of previous calls for equity-driven approaches targeting the most vulnerable to reduce childhood malnutrition.

Measuring the wealth of nations.

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Hamilton, Kirk; Dixon, John A

2003-01-01

The sustainability of development is closely linked to changes in total per capita wealth. This paper presents estimates of the wealth of nations for nearly 100 countries, broken down into produced assets, natural resources and human resources. While the latter is the dominant form of wealth in virtually all countries, in low income natural resource exporters the share of natural resources in total wealth is equal to the share of produced assets. For low income countries in general, cropland forms the vast majority of natural wealth. The analysis suggests the process of development can be viewed as one of portfolio management: sustainable development entails saving the rents from exhaustible resources, managing renewable resources sustainably, and investing savings in both produced assets and human resources.

Human Capital, Wealth, and Renewable Resources

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Wei-Bin ZHANG

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This paper studies dynamic interdependence among physical capital, resource and human capital. We integrate the Solow one-sector growth, Uzawa-Lucas two-sector and some neoclassical growth models with renewable resource models. The economic system consists of the households, production sector, resource sector and education sector. We take account of three ways of improving human capital: Arrow’s learning by producing (Arrow, 1962, Uzawa’s learning by education (Uzawa, 1965, and Zhang’s learning by consuming (Zhang, 2007. The model describes a dynamic interdependence among wealth accumulation, human capital accumulation, resource change, and division of labor under perfect competition. We simulate the model to demonstrate existence of equilibrium points and motion of the dynamic system. We also examine effects of changes in the productivity of the resource sector, the utilization efficiency of human capital, the propensity to receive education, and the propensity to save upon dynamic paths of the system.

Distributions of owner-occupiers' housing wealth, debt and interest expenditure ratios as financial soundness indicators

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lunde, Jens

The Danish housing market boomed from 1993 to the end of 2006. The house price increases from 2003 to 2006 were especially dramatic and cannot be explained satisfactorily by `fundamentals'. Moreover, the owner-occupiers are highly indebted; Denmark is the nation with the highest household debt....../GDP, highest total liabilities/net wealth and highest mortgage debt/net non-financial wealth ratios among 15 OECD countries. Obviously, an analysis of the financial soundness of owner-occupiers is topical in order to analyse financial stability in society. The financial soundness of Danish owner......-occupier families is analysed using relevant financial indicators for the owner-occupiers' capital structure and interest payments. Tax statistics for the owner-occupier families are used here. In a financial soundness perspective macro data are of limited importance as they express total and average changes...

The Antieconomy Hypothesis (Part 1): From Wealth Creation to Wealth Extraction

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Vanderburg, Willem H.

2009-01-01

This article attempts to make some sense of what is happening to the role of money and the economy in our lives and in our communities. It shows that the picture provided by the discipline of economics makes no sense at all. Corporations and national economies have become wealth extractors as opposed to wealth creators. Only about 3% of daily…

Household transmission of leptospira infection in urban slum communities.

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Elves A P Maciel

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Leptospirosis, a spirochaetal zoonotic disease, is the cause of epidemics associated with high mortality in urban slum communities. Infection with pathogenic Leptospira occurs during environmental exposures and is traditionally associated with occupational risk activities. However, slum inhabitants reside in close proximity to environmental sources of contamination, suggesting that transmission during urban epidemics occurs in the household environment.A survey was performed to determine whether Leptospira infection clustered within households located in slum communities in the city of Salvador, Brazil. Hospital-based surveillance identified 89 confirmed cases of leptospirosis during an outbreak. Serum samples were obtained from members of 22 households with index cases of leptospirosis and 52 control households located in the same slum communities. The presence of anti-Leptospira agglutinating antibodies was used as a marker for previous infection. In households with index cases, 22 (30% of 74 members had anti-Leptospira antibodies, whereas 16 (8% of 195 members from control households had anti-Leptospira antibodies. Highest titres were directed against L. interrogans serovars of the Icterohaemorrhagiae serogroup in 95% and 100% of the subjects with agglutinating antibodies from case and control households, respectively. Residence in a household with an index case of leptospirosis was associated with increased risk (OR 5.29, 95% CI 2.13-13.12 of having had a Leptospira infection. Increased infection risk was found for all age groups who resided in a household with an index case, including children <15 years of age (P = 0.008.This study identified significant household clustering of Leptospira infection in slum communities where recurrent epidemics of leptospirosis occur. The findings support the hypothesis that the household environment is an important transmission determinant in the urban slum setting. Prevention therefore needs to target

Women's opinion on the justification of physical spousal violence: A quantitative approach to model the most vulnerable households in Bangladesh.

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Biswas, Raaj Kishore; Rahman, Nusma; Kabir, Enamul; Raihan, Farabi

2017-01-01

Bangladesh is a culturally conservative nation with limited freedom for women. A number of studies have evaluated intimate partner violence (IPV) and spousal physical violence in Bangladesh; however, the views of women have been rarely discussed in a quantitative manner. Three nationwide surveys in Bangladesh (2007, 2011, and 2014) were analyzed in this study to characterize the most vulnerable households, where women themselves accepted spousal physical violence as a general norm. 31.3%, 31.9% and 28.7% women in the surveys found justification for physical violence in household in 2007, 2011 and 2014 respectively. The binary logistic model showed wealth index, education of both women and their partner, religion, geographical division, decision making freedom and marital age as significant household contributors for women's perspective in all the three years. Women in rich households and the highly educated were found to be 40% and 50% less likely to accept domestic physical violence compared to the poorest and illiterate women. Similarly, women who got married before 18 years were 20% more likely accept physical violence in the family as a norm. Apart from these particular groups (richest, highly educated and married after 18 years), other groups had around 30% acceptance rate of household violence. For any successful attempt to reduce spousal physical violence in the traditional patriarchal society of Bangladesh, interventions must target the most vulnerable households and the geographical areas where women experience spousal violence. Although this paper focuses on women's attitudes, it is important that any intervention scheme should be devised to target both men and women.

Women's opinion on the justification of physical spousal violence: A quantitative approach to model the most vulnerable households in Bangladesh.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raaj Kishore Biswas

Full Text Available Bangladesh is a culturally conservative nation with limited freedom for women. A number of studies have evaluated intimate partner violence (IPV and spousal physical violence in Bangladesh; however, the views of women have been rarely discussed in a quantitative manner. Three nationwide surveys in Bangladesh (2007, 2011, and 2014 were analyzed in this study to characterize the most vulnerable households, where women themselves accepted spousal physical violence as a general norm. 31.3%, 31.9% and 28.7% women in the surveys found justification for physical violence in household in 2007, 2011 and 2014 respectively. The binary logistic model showed wealth index, education of both women and their partner, religion, geographical division, decision making freedom and marital age as significant household contributors for women's perspective in all the three years. Women in rich households and the highly educated were found to be 40% and 50% less likely to accept domestic physical violence compared to the poorest and illiterate women. Similarly, women who got married before 18 years were 20% more likely accept physical violence in the family as a norm. Apart from these particular groups (richest, highly educated and married after 18 years, other groups had around 30% acceptance rate of household violence. For any successful attempt to reduce spousal physical violence in the traditional patriarchal society of Bangladesh, interventions must target the most vulnerable households and the geographical areas where women experience spousal violence. Although this paper focuses on women's attitudes, it is important that any intervention scheme should be devised to target both men and women.

(PSNP) to Household Asset Building in Selected Kebeles of K

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

resources in cash and in kind have been transferred to the beneficiaries for .... and micro-credit programs. ... Since the latter is the major factor, SNNP-DPPB further grouped ... data of a typical household in each wealth group for the year ...... N. P im p act o n h o u seh o ld assets. a b. In creased. M ain tain ed. 8. 1. (4. 0 .5. ).

Understanding Household Connectivity and Resilience in Marginal Rural Communities through Social Network Analysis in the Village of Habu, Botswana

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Lin Cassidy

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Adaptability is emerging as a key issue not only in the climate change debate but in the general area of sustainable development. In this context, we examine the link between household resilience and connectivity in a rural community in Botswana. We see resilience and vulnerability as the positive and negative dimensions of adaptability. Poor, marginal rural communities confronted with the vagaries of climate change, will need to become more resilient if they are to survive and thrive. We define resilience as the capacity of a social-ecological system to cope with shocks such as droughts or economic crises without changing its fundamental identity. We make use of three different indices of household resilience: livelihood diversity, wealth, and a comprehensive resilience index based on a combination of human, financial, physical, social, and natural capital. Then, we measure the social connectivity of households through a whole network approach in social network analysis, using two measures of network centrality (degree centrality and betweenness. We hypothesize that households with greater social connectivity have greater resilience, and analyze a community in rural Botswana to uncover how different households make use of social networks to deal with shocks such as human illness and death, crop damage, and livestock disease. We surveyed the entire community of Habu using a structured questionnaire that focused on livelihood strategies and social networks. We found that gender, age of household head, and household size were positively correlated with social connectivity. Our analysis indicates that those households that are more socially networked are likely to have a wider range of livelihood strategies, greater levels of other forms of social capital, and greater overall capital. Therefore, they are more resilient.

More Opportunities than Wealth: Inequality and Emergent Social Classes in a Network of Power and Frustration

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Nisoli, Cristiano; Mahault, Benoit; Saxena, Avadh

We introduce a minimal agent-based model to qualitatively conceptualize the allocation of limited wealth among more abundant opportunities. There the interplay of power, satisfaction and frustration determines the distribution, concentration, and inequality of wealth. Our framework allows us to compare subjective measures of frustration and satisfaction to collective measures of fairness in wealth distribution, such as the Lorenz curve and the Gini index. We find that a completely libertarian, law-of-the-jungle setting, where every agent can acquire wealth from, or lose wealth to, anybody else invariably leads to large inequality. The picture is however dramatically modified when hard constraints are imposed over agents, and they are limited to share wealth with neighbors on a network. We address dynamical societies via an out of equilibrium coevolution of the network, driven by a competition between power and frustration. The ratio between power and frustration controls different dynamical regimes separated by kinetic transitions and characterized by drastically different values of the indices of equality. In particular, it leads to the emergence of three self-organized social classes, lower, middle, and upper class, whose interactions drive a cyclical regime.

Socioemotional Wealth and Firms’ Control: Evidence from Malaysian Chinese Owned Companies

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Chin Fei Goh

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper explores how the preservation of socioemotional wealth can be manifested in the control and corporate governance of Malaysian Chinese firms. Using panel data from the Industrial Products index of the Bursa Malaysia (the Malaysian stock exchange during 2003-2006, we show that the ingrained ‘life-raft values’ among overseas Chinese entrepreneurs can be associated with the preservation of their socioemotional wealth, and thus they prioritize control over their firms. Additionally, we confirm the monitoring role of non-dominant large shareholders in reducing the families’ influence in managing and enhancing their firms’ performance. Specifically, control contestability exercised by the non-dominant large shareholders mediates the relationship between a family’s involvement in management and their firm’s performance.

Wealth, justice and freedom: Objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Scholten, Saskia; Velten, Julia; Neher, Torsten; Margraf, Jürgen

2017-12-01

Macro-level factors (MF) such as wealth, justice and freedom measured with objective country-level indicators (objective MF), for instance the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), have been investigated in relation to health and well-being, but rarely in connection with depression, anxiety and stress subsumed as poor mental health. Also, a combination of different objective MF and of how individuals perceive those MF (subjective MF) has not been taken into consideration. In the present study, we combined subjective and objective measures of wealth, justice and freedom and examined their relationship with poor mental health. Population-based interviews were conducted in France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, U.K. and U.S.A. (n ≈ 1000 per country). GDP, GINI coefficient, Justice Index and Freedom Index were used as objective MF, whereas subjective MF were perceived wealth, justice and freedom measured at the individual level. Poor mental health was assessed as a combination of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. In a random-intercept-model, GINI coefficient and Freedom Index were significant positive country-level, and perceived wealth, justice, and freedom significant negative individual-level predictors of symptoms of poor mental health. Multiple subjective and objective MF should be combined to assess the macrosystem's relationship with poor mental health more precisely. The relationship between MF and poor mental health indicates that the macrosystem should be taken into account as relevant context for mental health problems, too.

Women’s opinion on the justification of physical spousal violence: A quantitative approach to model the most vulnerable households in Bangladesh

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Bangladesh is a culturally conservative nation with limited freedom for women. A number of studies have evaluated intimate partner violence (IPV) and spousal physical violence in Bangladesh; however, the views of women have been rarely discussed in a quantitative manner. Three nationwide surveys in Bangladesh (2007, 2011, and 2014) were analyzed in this study to characterize the most vulnerable households, where women themselves accepted spousal physical violence as a general norm. 31.3%, 31.9% and 28.7% women in the surveys found justification for physical violence in household in 2007, 2011 and 2014 respectively. The binary logistic model showed wealth index, education of both women and their partner, religion, geographical division, decision making freedom and marital age as significant household contributors for women’s perspective in all the three years. Women in rich households and the highly educated were found to be 40% and 50% less likely to accept domestic physical violence compared to the poorest and illiterate women. Similarly, women who got married before 18 years were 20% more likely accept physical violence in the family as a norm. Apart from these particular groups (richest, highly educated and married after 18 years), other groups had around 30% acceptance rate of household violence. For any successful attempt to reduce spousal physical violence in the traditional patriarchal society of Bangladesh, interventions must target the most vulnerable households and the geographical areas where women experience spousal violence. Although this paper focuses on women’s attitudes, it is important that any intervention scheme should be devised to target both men and women. PMID:29161277

National and International Inequalities in Income and Wealth in a Global Growth with Free Trade and National Inflation Policies

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WEI-BIN ZHANG

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to study global monetary economic growth with heterogeneous households under free trade. The paper examines dynamics of global and national wealth and income distribution in association with monetary economic growth within an integrated framework. Money is introduced via the cash-in-advance (CIA approach. We show that the dynamics of the world economy (with any number of countries is described by a set of differential equations. We simulate equilibrium of the global economy with three countries and two types of households in each country. We also demonstrate effects of changes in technology and inflation policy. Our model demonstrates, as Grier and Grier (2007 empirically show, that the global economy exhibits absolute divergence in output levels if some determinants of steady state income are different. The study shows that as one country increases its inflation policy, the equilibrium values of the global output, consumption level and physical wealth are enhanced, and the rate of interest is lowered. The country which raises its inflation policy benefits in every aspect, but the other countries suffer in some aspects and benefit in others.

Regional inequalities in self-rated health and disability in younger and older generations in Turkey: the contribution of wealth and education.

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Ergin, Isil; Kunst, Anton E

2015-09-29

In Turkey, large regional inequalities were found in maternal and child health. Yet, evidence on regional inequalities in adult health in Turkey remains fragmentary. This study aims to assess regional and rural/urban inequalities in the prevalence of poor self-rated health and in disability among adult populations in Turkey, and to measure the contribution of education and wealth of individual residents. The central hypothesis was that geographical inequalities in adult health exist even when the effect of education and wealth were taken into account. We analyzed data of the 2002 World Health Survey for Turkey on 10791 adults aged 20 years and over. We measured respondents' rating of their own general health and the prevalence of five types of physical disability. Logistic regression was used to estimate how much these two health outcomes varied according to urban/rural place of residence, region, education level and household wealth. We stratified the analyses by gender and age (‹50 and ≥50 years). Both health outcomes were strongly associated with educational level (especially for older age group) and with household wealth (especially for younger age group). Both health outcomes also varied according to region and rural/urban place of residence. Higher prevalence rates were observed in the East region (compared to West) with odd ratios varying between 1.40-2.76. After controlling for education and wealth, urban/rural differences in health disappeared, while regional differences were observed only among older women. The prevalence of poor self-rated health was higher for older women in the Middle (OR = 1.69), Black Sea (OR = 1.53) and East (OR = 2.06) regions. In Turkey, substantial geographical inequalities in self-reported adult health do exist, but can mostly be explained by differences in socioeconomic characteristics of residents. The regional disadvantage of older women in the East, Middle and Black Sea may have resulted from life

The impact of adverse health events on consumption: Understanding the mediating effect of income transfers, wealth, and health insurance.

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Babiarz, Patryk; Yilmazer, Tansel

2017-12-01

Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for years 1999-2013, we investigate the impact of physical and mental illnesses on household consumption and financial status. In comparison to severe physical health problems, mental illnesses lead to larger decreases in labor income. Increases in public and private transfers following the onset of a mental illness do not completely offset the decline in labor income. Consequently, we find a significant decrease in consumption expenditures after the household head experiences a mental problem. On the other hand, public and private transfers and accumulated wealth offset the relatively smaller decline in labor income and enable households with severe physical problems to smooth their consumption. Health insurance helps to prevent larger drops in consumption after the onset of a mental health problem. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Prediction of National Wealth

Science.gov (United States)

Whetzel, Deborah L.; McDaniel, Michael A.

2006-01-01

In their book, IQ and the Wealth of Nations, Lynn and Vanhanen ([Lynn, R. and Vanhanen, T. (2002). IQ and the wealth of nations. Westport, CT: Praeger.]) proposed the hypothesis that "the intelligence of the populations has been a major factor responsible for the national differences in economic growth and for the gap in per capita income between…

Shigella Infections in Household Contacts of Pediatric Shigellosis Patients in Rural Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

George, Christine Marie; Ahmed, Shahnawaz; Talukder, Kaisar A; Azmi, Ishrat J; Perin, Jamie; Sack, R Bradley; Sack, David A; Stine, O Colin; Oldja, Lauren; Shahnaij, Mohammad; Chakraborty, Subhra; Parvin, Tahmina; Bhuyian, Sazzadul Islam; Bouwer, Edward; Zhang, Xiaotong; Hasan, Trisheeta N; Luna, Sharmin J; Akter, Fatema; Faruque, Abu S G

2015-11-01

To examine rates of Shigella infections in household contacts of pediatric shigellosis patients, we followed contacts and controls prospectively for 1 week after the index patient obtained care. Household contacts of patients were 44 times more likely to develop a Shigella infection than were control contacts (odds ratio 44.7, 95% CI 5.5-361.6); 29 (94%) household contacts of shigellosis patients were infected with the same species and serotype as the index patient's. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed that 14 (88%) of 16 with infected contacts had strains that were indistinguishable from or closely related to the index patient's strain. Latrine area fly counts were higher in patient households compared with control households, and 2 patient household water samples were positive for Shigella. We show high susceptibility of household contacts of shigellosis patients to Shigella infections and found environmental risk factors to be targeted in future interventions.

Inheritance and wealth inequality: Evidence from population registers

OpenAIRE

Elinder, Mikael; Erixson, Oscar; Waldenström, Daniel

2016-01-01

We use new population-wide register data on inheritances and wealth in Sweden to estimate the causal impact of inheritances on wealth inequality. We find that inheritances reduce relative wealth inequality (e.g., the Gini coefficient falls by 5–10 percent) but that absolute dispersion increases. Examining different parts of the wealth distribution, we find that the top decile's wealth share decreases substantially, whereas the wealth share of the bottom half increases from a negative to a pos...

Household transmission of rotavirus in a community with rotavirus vaccination in Quininde, Ecuador.

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Ben Lopman

Full Text Available We studied the transmission of rotavirus infection in households in peri-urban Ecuador in the vaccination era.Stool samples were collected from household contacts of child rotavirus cases, diarrhea controls and healthy controls following presentation of the index child to health facilities. Rotavirus infection status of contacts was determined by RT-qPCR. We examined factors associated with transmissibility (index-case characteristics and susceptibility (household-contact characteristics.Amongst cases, diarrhea controls and healthy control household contacts, infection attack rates (iAR were 55%, 8% and 2%, (n = 137, 130, 137 respectively. iARs were higher from index cases with vomiting, and amongst siblings. Disease ARs were higher when the index child was <18 months and had vomiting, with household contact <10 years and those sharing a room with the index case being more susceptible. We found no evidence of asymptomatic infections leading to disease transmission.Transmission rates of rotavirus are high in households with an infected child, while background infections are rare. We have identified factors associated with transmission (vomiting/young age of index case and susceptibility (young age/sharing a room/being a sibling of the index case. Vaccination may lead to indirect benefits by averting episodes or reducing symptoms in vaccinees.

HOUSEHOLD NUCLEATION, DEPENDENCY AND CHILD HEALTH OUTCOMES IN GHANA.

Science.gov (United States)

Annim, Samuel Kobina; Awusabo-Asare, Kofi; Amo-Adjei, Joshua

2015-09-01

This study uses three key anthropometric measures of nutritional status among children (stunting, wasting and underweight) to explore the dual effects of household composition and dependency on nutritional outcomes of under-five children in Ghana. The objective is to examine changes in household living arrangements of under-five children to explore the interaction of dependency and nucleation on child health outcomes. The concept of nucleation refers to the changing structure and composition of household living arrangements, from highly extended with its associated socioeconomic system of production and reproduction, social behaviour and values, towards single-family households - especially the nuclear family, containing a husband and wife and their children alone. A negative relationship between levels of dependency, as measured by the number of children in the household, and child health outcomes is premised on the grounds that high dependency depletes resources, both tangible and intangible, to the disadvantage of young children. Data were drawn from the last four rounds of the Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys (GDHSs), from 1993 to 2008, for the first objective - to explore changes in household composition. For the second objective, the study used data from the 2008 GDHS. The results show that, over time, households in Ghana have been changing towards nucleation. The main finding is that in households with the same number of dependent children, in nucleated households children under age 5 have better health outcomes compared with children under age 5 in non-nucleated households. The results also indicate that the effect of dependency on child health outcomes is mediated by household nucleation and wealth status and that, as such, high levels of dependency do not necessarily translate into negative health outcomes for children under age 5, based on anthropometric measures.

Economic wealth related to use of watercourses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ollila, M.

1998-01-01

Investigations have been made in Finland to establish the level of the national wealth, which consists of different lands of capital items. The present investigation focuses on different types of water use and on the economic wealth which they represent. The types of water use chosen include water supply and sewerage, flood protection, water-borne traffic, timber floating, hydropower production, fishing, fish farming and recreation. Wealth has been defined, whenever possible, according to yearly profit or the increase in profit. Where this has not been possible, wealth has been defined on the basis of investment costs or according to the one-off increase in wealth achieved by the project. This method was first employed for certain types of water use in the Kalajoki watercourse. For this watercourse wealth was calculated by both the methods described above, using profits, wealth was calculated to be FIM 533 million and using investments FIM 557 million. Due to lack of adequate basic information the figures, however, cannot be compared. The estimation method was also extended to cover the whole country, whereby the total wealth was estimated to be approximately FIM 155 billion. Most of this wealth consisted of recreation, water supply, sewerage and hydropower production. Comparison of the results of this investigation with the values determined in other national wealth investigations is difficult due to the presence of different groupings and methods of determination. In this investigation, the wealth gained by recreational use of the Ostrobothnian reservoirs was also separately examined and estimated to be approximately FIM 200 million. Different kinds of estimation methods had to be used and developed in this work, because the types of water use are very different and because similar investigations have not previously been undertaken. (orig.) 42 refs

Scientific wealth and inequality within nations

OpenAIRE

Prathap, Gangan

2017-01-01

We show that the greater the scientific wealth of a nation, the more likely that it will tend to concentrate this excellence in a few premier institutions. That is, great wealth implies great inequality of distribution. The scientific wealth is interpreted in terms of citation data harvested by Google Scholar Citations for profiled institutions from all countries in the world.

Immunization in India 1993-1999: wealth, gender, and regional inequalities revisited.

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Gaudin, Sylvestre; Yazbeck, Abdo S

2006-02-01

Previously published evidence from the 1992-1993 Indian National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) on the state of childhood immunization showed the importance of analyzing immunization outcomes beyond national averages. Reported total system failure (no immunization for all) in some low performance areas suggested that improvements in immunization levels may come with a worsening of the distribution of immunization based on wealth. In this paper, using the second wave of the NFHS (1998-1999), we take a new snapshot of the situation and compare it to 1992-1993, focusing on heterogeneities between states, rural-urban differentials, gender differentials, and more specifically on wealth-related inequalities. To assess whether improvements in overall immunization rates (levels) were accompanied by distributional improvements, or conversely, whether inequalities were reduced at the expense of overall achievement, we use a recently developed methodology to calculate an inequality-adjusted achievement index that captures performance both in terms of efficiency (change in levels) and equity (distribution by wealth quintiles) for each of the 17 largest Indian states. Comparing 1992-1993 to 1998-1999 achievements using different degrees of "inequality aversion" provides no evidence that distributional improvements occur at the expense of overall performance.

Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems

OpenAIRE

Yun, Seong Do; Hutniczak, Barbara; Abbott, Joshua K.; Fenichel, Eli P.

2017-01-01

Ecosystems store vast quantities of wealth, but difficulties measuring wealth held in ecosystems prevent its inclusion in accounting systems. Ecosystem-based management endeavors to manage ecosystems holistically. However, ecosystem-based management lacks headline indicators to evaluate performance. We unify the inclusive wealth and ecosystem-based management paradigms, allowing apples-to-apples comparisons between the wealth of the ecosystem and other forms of wealth, while providing a headl...

Toys and toilets: cross-sectional study using children's toys to evaluate environmental faecal contamination in rural Bangladeshi households with different sanitation facilities and practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Vujcic, Jelena; Ram, Pavani K; Hussain, Faruqe; Unicomb, Leanne; Gope, Partha Sarathi; Abedin, Jaynal; Mahmud, Zahid Hayat; Islam, M Sirajul; Luby, Stephen P

2014-05-01

To evaluate household faecal contamination using children's toys among 100 rural Bangladeshi households categorised as 'cleaner' (toilet that reliably separates faeces from the environment and no human faeces in/around living space) or 'less clean' (no toilet or toilet that does not reliably separate faeces from the environment and human faeces in/around living space). We distributed toy balls to each household and rinsed each study toy and a toy already owned by the household in 200 ml of Ringer's solution. We enumerated faecal coliforms and faecal streptococci from each rinse using membrane filtration methods. Study toys from 39 cleaner households had lower mean faecal coliform contamination than toys from 61 less clean households (2.4 log10 colony-forming units (CFU)/200 ml vs. 3.2 log10 CFU/200 ml, P = 0.03). However, wealth measures explained a portion of this relationship. Repeat measures were moderately variable [coefficient of variation (CV) = 6.5 between two toys in the household at the same time, CV = 37.6 between toys in the household at two different times 3-4 days apart]. Too few households owned a non-porous toy to compare groups without risk of bias. In rural Bangladesh, improved sanitation facilities and practices were associated with less environmental contamination. Whether this association is independent of household wealth and whether the difference in contamination improves child health merit further study. The variation found was typical for measures of environmental contamination, and requires large sample sizes to ascertain differences between groups with statistical significance. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Socio-economic determinants of household food security and women's dietary diversity in rural Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris-Fry, Helen; Azad, Kishwar; Kuddus, Abdul; Shaha, Sanjit; Nahar, Badrun; Hossen, Munir; Younes, Leila; Costello, Anthony; Fottrell, Edward

2015-07-10

There has been limited decline in undernutrition rates in South Asia compared with the rest of Asia and one reason for this may be low levels of household food security. However, the evidence base on the determinants of household food security is limited. To develop policies intended to improve household food security, improved knowledge of the determinants of household food security is required. Household data were collected in 2011 from a randomly selected sample of 2,809 women of reproductive age. The sample was drawn from nine unions in three districts of rural Bangladesh. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted to measure the relationship between selected determinants of household food security and months of adequate household food provisioning, and a linear regression to measure the association between the same determinants and women's dietary diversity score. The analyses found that land ownership, adjusted relative risk ratio (RRR) 0.28 (CI 0.18, 0.42); relative wealth (middle tertile 0.49 (0.29, 0.84) and top tertile 0.18 (0.10, 0.33)); women's literacy 0.64 (0.46, 0.90); access to media 0.49 (0.33, 0.72); and women's freedom to access the market 0.56 (0.36, 0.85) all significantly reduced the risk of food insecurity. Larger households increased the risk of food insecurity, adjusted RRR 1.46 (CI 1.02, 2.09). Households with vegetable gardens 0.20 (0.11, 0.31), rich households 0.46 (0.24, 0.68) and literate women 0.37 (0.20, 0.54) were significantly more likely to have better dietary diversity scores. Household food insecurity remains a key public health problem in Bangladesh, with households suffering food shortages for an average of one quarter of the year. Simple survey and analytical methods are able to identify numerous interlinked factors associated with household food security, but wealth and literacy were the only two determinants associated with both improved food security and dietary diversity. We cannot conclude whether improvements in all

Kinetics of wealth and the Pareto law.

Science.gov (United States)

Boghosian, Bruce M

2014-04-01

An important class of economic models involve agents whose wealth changes due to transactions with other agents. Several authors have pointed out an analogy with kinetic theory, which describes molecules whose momentum and energy change due to interactions with other molecules. We pursue this analogy and derive a Boltzmann equation for the time evolution of the wealth distribution of a population of agents for the so-called Yard-Sale Model of wealth exchange. We examine the solutions to this equation by a combination of analytical and numerical methods and investigate its long-time limit. We study an important limit of this equation for small transaction sizes and derive a partial integrodifferential equation governing the evolution of the wealth distribution in a closed economy. We then describe how this model can be extended to include features such as inflation, production, and taxation. In particular, we show that the model with taxation exhibits the basic features of the Pareto law, namely, a lower cutoff to the wealth density at small values of wealth, and approximate power-law behavior at large values of wealth.

Risk, opportunities and reasons of the household debt changes: The case of an emerging economy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sisimogang Tracy Seane

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In the past decades, household debt in both developed and developing countries have been increasing. With an increase in the standard of living, household debt is also bound to increase. This paper examines the cointergation and causal link among household disposable income, household savings, debt service ratio, lending interest rate, consumer price index and household debt in South Africa. An Autoregressive Distributed Lag and Granger causality techniques was used to analyse data collected from the South African Reserve Bank and Quantec from 1984 to 2014. The results of Autoregressive Distributed Lag test revealed cointegrating relationships between household debt and debt service ratio as well as household debt and lending interest rate. However, there is no long run cointegrating relationship between household disposable income, household savings and consumer price index with household debt. The Granger causality results revealed that household disposable income, household savings, debt service ratio, lending interest rate, consumer price index do Granger cause household debt in South Africa. Policy makers should thus target these variables in order to reduce household debt in South Africa

Access to Sanitation Facilities among Nigerian Households: Determinants and Sustainability Implications

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Ismaila Rimi Abubakar

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Access to improved sanitation facilities is key to the socioeconomic wellbeing and sustainable development of any society. This study examines access to sanitation facilities in Nigeria and explores the socioeconomic and locational factors that influence the type of facility used by households. The study utilizes cross-sectional data from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, and employs descriptive and inferential statistics for data analyses. The results indicated that 44.2% of households used various kinds of pit latrines, followed by toilets that flush to septic tanks (10.3%. While only 5.3% of the respondents used toilets that connect to sewer systems, about a third (31.5% lacked sanitation facility and the remaining 8.7% used other types of sanitation facilities. Results from chi-square analysis and ANOVA revealed significant statistical differences between the type of sanitation facility households used and their place of residence, geopolitical zone, ethnicity, educational attainment and wealth. Multivariate regression results indicated that the type of household sanitation facility is significantly associated with the mentioned factors as well as household size, gender of the head of the household, type of water sources, number of rooms and access to electricity. Age of the head of the household and type of cooking fuel used were not significant. The study concludes by underscoring the implications of using unimproved sanitation facilities on human health and environmental sustainability.

Turnover activity in wealth portfolios

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Castaldi, C.; Milakovic, M.

2007-01-01

We examine several subsets of the wealthiest individuals in the US and the UK that are compiled by Forbes Magazine and the Sunday Times. Since these are named subsets, we can calculate the returns to wealth portfolios, and calibrate a statistical equilibrium model of wealth distribution that

Turnover activity in wealth portfolios

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Castaldi, Carolina; Milakovic, Mishael

We examine several subsets of the wealthiest individuals in the US and the UK that are compiled by Forbes Magazine and the Sunday Times. Since these are named subsets, we can calculate the returns to wealth portfolios, and calibrate a statistical equilibrium model of wealth distribution that

Precursors to overnutrition: the effects of household market food expenditures on measures of body composition among Tsimane' adults in lowland Bolivia.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosinger, Asher; Tanner, Susan; Leonard, William R

2013-09-01

Nutrition transitions are characterized by shifts in diet and activity levels that lead to changes in weight and body fatness over a relatively short time. Research has linked these nutritional shifts to socio-economic factors, including wealth and income. However, few studies have examined household spending patterns on market foods among subsistence populations, which may reveal food access, choice, and indicate household nutritional environment. This paper examines the relation between household monetary expenditures on "market" foods and measures of body composition among Tsimane', a forager-horticulturalist indigenous group in the Bolivian Amazon. Economic and anthropometric surveys were conducted for adults (n = 1199) 16 years or older in 563 households in 40 Tsimane' villages in 2008. Results indicate that overweight status (19% of men and 24% of women) is more common than obesity (1% of men and 4% of women). Sixty-one percent (61%) of households reported purchasing market foods during the previous week. Multiple linear and logistic regressions suggest that men living in households in the top third of monetary expenditures on market foods had significantly higher BMI (0.69 kg/m(2); p = 0.027), weight (1.80 kg; p = 0.048), percent body fat (1.06%; p = 0.025), and probability of being overweight/obese (Odds ratio = 1.83; p = 0.042) than men in households that reported not spending money on market foods in the previous week. We discuss the possibility that the division of labor may help explain the differences between men and women in this sample. This research suggests household expenditures on market foods may mediate the relation between wealth and body composition. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Rise and Fall of Swedish Wealth Taxation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henrekson Magnus

2014-05-01

Full Text Available We study the evolution of modern Swedish wealth taxation from its introduction in**1911 until it was abolished in 2007. The rules concerning valuation of assets, deductions/exemptions and tax schedules to characterize effective wealth tax schedules are described. These rules and schedules are used to calculate marginal and average wealth tax rates for three differently endowed owners of family firms and individual fortunes corresponding to a large, medium-sized and small firm. The overall trend in the direct wealth tax was rising until 1971 for owners of large and medium-sized firms and for individuals of equally-sized wealth consisting of non-corporate assets. Average direct wealth tax rates were low until 1934, except for 1913 when a progressive defense tax was levied. There were three major tax hikes: in 1934, when the wealth tax was more than doubled, in 1948 when tax rates were doubled again and in 1971 for owners of large firms and similarly sized non-corporate fortunes. Effective tax rates peaked in 1973 for owners of large firms and in 1983 for individuals with large non-corporate wealth. Reduction rules limited the wealth tax rates from 1934 for fortunes with high wealth/income ratios. The wealth tax on unlisted net business equity was abolished in 1991. Tax rates for wealthy individuals were decreased in 1991 and in 1992 and then remained at 0.5-1 percent through 2006, depending on whether the reduction rule was applicable. Tax rates for small-firm owners and small individual fortunes were substantially lower. Aggregate wealth tax revenues were rela-tively small; they never exceeded 0.4 percent of GDP in the postwar period and amounted to 0.16 percent of GDP in 2006.

Entrepreneurs, Chance, and the Deterministic Concentration of Wealth

Science.gov (United States)

Fargione, Joseph E.; Lehman, Clarence; Polasky, Stephen

2011-01-01

In many economies, wealth is strikingly concentrated. Entrepreneurs–individuals with ownership in for-profit enterprises–comprise a large portion of the wealthiest individuals, and their behavior may help explain patterns in the national distribution of wealth. Entrepreneurs are less diversified and more heavily invested in their own companies than is commonly assumed in economic models. We present an intentionally simplified individual-based model of wealth generation among entrepreneurs to assess the role of chance and determinism in the distribution of wealth. We demonstrate that chance alone, combined with the deterministic effects of compounding returns, can lead to unlimited concentration of wealth, such that the percentage of all wealth owned by a few entrepreneurs eventually approaches 100%. Specifically, concentration of wealth results when the rate of return on investment varies by entrepreneur and by time. This result is robust to inclusion of realities such as differing skill among entrepreneurs. The most likely overall growth rate of the economy decreases as businesses become less diverse, suggesting that high concentrations of wealth may adversely affect a country's economic growth. We show that a tax on large inherited fortunes, applied to a small portion of the most fortunate in the population, can efficiently arrest the concentration of wealth at intermediate levels. PMID:21814540

Assessing the extent and intensity of energy poverty using Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index: Empirical evidence from households in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sadath, Anver C.; Acharya, Rajesh H.

2017-01-01

In this paper, we have made a comprehensive assessment of the extent and various socio-economic implications of energy poverty in India. Amartya Sens's capability approach to development underpins the analysis of household-level data taken from the India Human Development Survey-II (IHDS-II), 2011-12 using the Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI). The overall results show that energy poverty is widespread in India and the existence of energy poverty also coincides with the other forms of deprivations such as income poverty and social backwardness. For example, Dalits (Lower Caste) and Adivasis (Tribal) are found to be extremely energy poor compared to the other social groups in India. The results also reveal that it is the responsibility of women to manage the domestic chores such as collection of firewood and making of dung cake in traditional Indian households. Inefficient use of such biomass fuels is found to cause health hazards. - Highlights: • Energy poverty in India is assessed based on Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI). • Energy poverty is widespread in India with large geographical variation across states. • Energy poverty coincides with socioeconomic backwardness of people. • Energy poverty is associated with health hazards like Asthma and Tuberculosis. • Access to energy may increase labor market participation of women.

Gamma-distribution and wealth inequality

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

This in turn allows one to quantify the inequalities observed in the wealth distributions and suggests that their origin should be traced back to very general underlying mechanisms, for instance, the fact that smaller the fraction of the relevant quantity (e.g. wealth) that agent can exchange during an interaction, the closer the ...

Wealth inequality: The physics basis

Science.gov (United States)

Bejan, A.; Errera, M. R.

2017-03-01

"Inequality" is a common observation about us, as members of society. In this article, we unify physics with economics by showing that the distribution of wealth is related proportionally to the movement of all the streams of a live society. The hierarchical distribution of wealth on the earth happens naturally. Hierarchy is unavoidable, with staying power, and difficult to efface. We illustrate this with two architectures, river basins and the movement of freight. The physical flow architecture that emerges is hierarchical on the surface of the earth and in everything that flows inside the live human bodies, the movement of humans and their belongings, and the engines that drive the movement. The nonuniform distribution of wealth becomes more accentuated as the economy becomes more developed, i.e., as its flow architecture becomes more complex for the purpose of covering smaller and smaller interstices of the overall (fixed) territory. It takes a relatively modest complexity for the nonuniformity in the distribution of wealth to be evident. This theory also predicts the Lorenz-type distribution of income inequality, which was adopted empirically for a century.

Prevalence of Thinness in Adolescent Girls in Low- and Middle-Income Countries and Associations With Wealth, Food Security, and Inequality.

Science.gov (United States)

Candler, Toby; Costa, Silvia; Heys, Michelle; Costello, Anthony; Viner, Russell M

2017-04-01

Adequate nutrition during adolescence is important for optimal physical and cognitive development and for pregnancy either during adolescence or later life. Thinness among adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries has been little studied. We used body mass index data from 40 countries from the Global School Health Survey to estimate the prevalence of moderate and severe thinness in 12- to 18-year-olds using the World Health Organization 2007 growth reference. Self-report data on going to bed hungry were used as a proxy for household food insecurity. We used multilevel models to assess whether national wealth (gross domestic product), income inequality (Gini index), national gender inequality (Gender Inequality Index), and food security (Global Food Security Index) were associated with undernutrition. Prevalence rates of moderate and severe thinness across 61,603 girls from 40 countries were 6.30% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.71-6.95) and 1.34% (1.12-1.59), respectively, with higher rates in Asia. Combined moderate/severe thinness was more common among early (12-14 years) than later adolescents (15-18 years). Going to bed hungry sometimes was associated with increased risk of moderate/severe thinness (odds ratio [OR]: 1.102; 95% CI: 1.007-1.206). A significant inverse relationship was found between thinness and gross domestic product (OR: .94; 95% CI: .88-.99) and Global Food Security Index (OR: .96; 95% CI: .93-.99) but not Gini or Gender Inequality Index. Thinness remains prevalent in adolescent schoolgirls in low- and middle-income countries and poses a significant threat to their health and that of the next generation. Further research is needed to assess potential interventions for this group. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing alternative measures of wealth in health research.

Science.gov (United States)

Cubbin, Catherine; Pollack, Craig; Flaherty, Brian; Hayward, Mark; Sania, Ayesha; Vallone, Donna; Braveman, Paula

2011-05-01

We assessed whether it would be feasible to replace the standard measure of net worth with simpler measures of wealth in population-based studies examining associations between wealth and health. We used data from the 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances (respondents aged 25-64 years) and the 2004 Health and Retirement Survey (respondents aged 50 years or older) to construct logistic regression models relating wealth to health status and smoking. For our wealth measure, we used the standard measure of net worth as well as 9 simpler measures of wealth, and we compared results among the 10 models. In both data sets and for both health indicators, models using simpler wealth measures generated conclusions about the association between wealth and health that were similar to the conclusions generated by models using net worth. The magnitude and significance of the odds ratios were similar for the covariates in multivariate models, and the model-fit statistics for models using these simpler measures were similar to those for models using net worth. Our findings suggest that simpler measures of wealth may be acceptable in population-based studies of health.

Livelihood Cycle and Vulnerability of Rural Households to Climate Change and Hazards in Bangladesh

Science.gov (United States)

Alam, G. M. Monirul

2017-05-01

Rural riverine households in Bangladesh are confronted with many climate-driven hazards, including riverbank erosion, which results in loss of productive land and other natural resources of the riverine households, and thus threatens their livelihoods and food security. This study assesses the main drivers of vulnerability and livelihood cycle of vulnerable riparian households in Bangladesh. The study utilises the IPCC framework of vulnerability and develops a weighted approach by employing the livelihood vulnerability index and the climate vulnerability index. The results reveal that the livelihood vulnerability index and the climate vulnerability index differ across locations, however, a high index value for both measures indicates the households' high livelihood vulnerability to climate change and hazards. The main drivers that influence the vulnerability dimensions are livelihood strategies and access to food, water and health facilities. These hazard-prone households are also vulnerable due to their existing low livelihood status that leads to a vicious cycle of poverty. The findings of this study are crucial for policymakers to formulate and implement effective strategies and programs to minimise vulnerability and to enhance the local adaptation processes in order to improve such households' livelihood across Bangladesh.

Livelihood Cycle and Vulnerability of Rural Households to Climate Change and Hazards in Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Alam, G M Monirul

2017-05-01

Rural riverine households in Bangladesh are confronted with many climate-driven hazards, including riverbank erosion, which results in loss of productive land and other natural resources of the riverine households, and thus threatens their livelihoods and food security. This study assesses the main drivers of vulnerability and livelihood cycle of vulnerable riparian households in Bangladesh. The study utilises the IPCC framework of vulnerability and develops a weighted approach by employing the livelihood vulnerability index and the climate vulnerability index. The results reveal that the livelihood vulnerability index and the climate vulnerability index differ across locations, however, a high index value for both measures indicates the households' high livelihood vulnerability to climate change and hazards. The main drivers that influence the vulnerability dimensions are livelihood strategies and access to food, water and health facilities. These hazard-prone households are also vulnerable due to their existing low livelihood status that leads to a vicious cycle of poverty. The findings of this study are crucial for policymakers to formulate and implement effective strategies and programs to minimise vulnerability and to enhance the local adaptation processes in order to improve such households' livelihood across Bangladesh.

OPTION WEALTH AND BEQUEST VALUES: THE VALUE OF PROTECTING FUTURE GENERATIONS FROM THE HEALTH RISKS OF NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE

OpenAIRE

Riddel, Mary C.; Shaw, W. Douglass

2002-01-01

We devise a simple model of intergenerational altruism under uncertainty. We present an estimable form of the model that relies on a few, plausible, assumptions. We apply the model to data collected in a survey of Southern Nevadans concerning the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nye County, NV. We find strong evidence of a bequest motive. Approximately one third of the option wealth lost by households near the repository can be attributed to costs to future generations.

Effects of network topology on wealth distributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garlaschelli, Diego; Loffredo, Maria I

2008-01-01

We focus on the problem of how the wealth is distributed among the units of a networked economic system. We first review the empirical results documenting that in many economies the wealth distribution is described by a combination of the log-normal and power-law behaviours. We then focus on the Bouchaud-Mezard model of wealth exchange, describing an economy of interacting agents connected through an exchange network. We report analytical and numerical results showing that the system self-organizes towards a stationary state whose associated wealth distribution depends crucially on the underlying interaction network. In particular, we show that if the network displays a homogeneous density of links, the wealth distribution displays either the log-normal or the power-law form. This means that the first-order topological properties alone (such as the scale-free property) are not enough to explain the emergence of the empirically observed mixed form of the wealth distribution. In order to reproduce this nontrivial pattern, the network has to be heterogeneously divided into regions with a variable density of links. We show new results detailing how this effect is related to the higher-order correlation properties of the underlying network. In particular, we analyse assortativity by degree and the pairwise wealth correlations, and discuss the effects that these properties have on each other

Sovereign Wealth Funds: Issue of transparency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petrović Daliborka

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Subject of the paper includes Sovereign Wealth Funds and the formation of the first regulatory framework for their investment activities. Sovereign Wealth Funds invested a significant amount of money in Western financial institutions during the global financial crisis and thus played a crucial role in the preservation and stabilization of the global financial system. However, at the same time, a large gap between the financial power of Sovereign Wealth Funds and the level of their transparency was noted. The need to improve the transparency of Sovereign Wealth Funds has been recognized by international institutions, the OECD and the IMF, which initiated the formulation of the first international regulatory framework regarding the operations of these types of funds. The current international regulatory framework represents a sufficient basis for the gradual improvement of transparency, but because of its non-binding and voluntary nature, certain issues such as the protection of national security interests remain open. Therefore, the solutions can be sought through a process of continuous improvement of international regulation as well as strengthening cooperation between Sovereign Wealth Funds and governments of countries in which they invest.

The utility of health and wealth.

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, Moshe; Nir, Adi Rizansky

2012-03-01

Tradeoffs between health and wealth are among the most important decisions individuals make, and are central to social and economic policy. Yet, only a few studies have investigated the utility of health and wealth empirically. This paper investigates this utility function both theoretically and empirically. We conduct detailed personal interviews with 180 cancer patients, and also obtain questionnaires from 132 diabetes patients. We find strong support for the utility function U(h, w)=h·log(w), where h denotes health and w denotes wealth. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Wealth of Nations or Wealth of Persons: World Billionaires and Sector Concentration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harun YAKIŞIK

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Despite the recent global financial crisis, the number of billionaires in USA, Russia, China and Turkey has increased in the last five years, while it has remained at a constant scale in most developed European countries. The aim of the study is to explore whether wealth accumulation is closely related to the sector concentration in billionaire-generating countries. Unlike the previous studies on billionaires, this study examines the relationship between sectors and wealth accumulation of billionaires in some selected billionaire generating countries through secondary data from the Forbes list for the years from 2006 to 2011.

Transmission of Multidrug-Resistant and Drug-Susceptible Tuberculosis within Households: A Prospective Cohort Study

Science.gov (United States)

Grandjean, Louis; Gilman, Robert H.; Martin, Laura; Soto, Esther; Castro, Beatriz; Lopez, Sonia; Coronel, Jorge; Castillo, Edith; Alarcon, Valentina; Lopez, Virginia; San Miguel, Angela; Quispe, Neyda; Asencios, Luis; Dye, Christopher; Moore, David A. J.

2015-01-01

Background The “fitness” of an infectious pathogen is defined as the ability of the pathogen to survive, reproduce, be transmitted, and cause disease. The fitness of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) relative to drug-susceptible tuberculosis is cited as one of the most important determinants of MDRTB spread and epidemic size. To estimate the relative fitness of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases, we compared the incidence of tuberculosis disease among the household contacts of MDRTB index patients to that among the contacts of drug-susceptible index patients. Methods and Findings This 3-y (2010–2013) prospective cohort household follow-up study in South Lima and Callao, Peru, measured the incidence of tuberculosis disease among 1,055 household contacts of 213 MDRTB index cases and 2,362 household contacts of 487 drug-susceptible index cases. A total of 35/1,055 (3.3%) household contacts of 213 MDRTB index cases developed tuberculosis disease, while 114/2,362 (4.8%) household contacts of 487 drug-susceptible index patients developed tuberculosis disease. The total follow-up time for drug-susceptible tuberculosis contacts was 2,620 person-years, while the total follow-up time for MDRTB contacts was 1,425 person-years. Using multivariate Cox regression to adjust for confounding variables including contact HIV status, contact age, socio-economic status, and index case sputum smear grade, the hazard ratio for tuberculosis disease among MDRTB household contacts was found to be half that for drug-susceptible contacts (hazard ratio 0.56, 95% CI 0.34–0.90, p = 0.017). The inference of transmission in this study was limited by the lack of genotyping data for household contacts. Capturing incident disease only among household contacts may also limit the extrapolation of these findings to the community setting. Conclusions The low relative fitness of MDRTB estimated by this study improves the chances of controlling drug-resistant tuberculosis. However, fitter

Youth development in India: does poverty matter?

OpenAIRE

Malik, Bijaya Kumar

2015-01-01

This paper explores the differentials in youth development patterns determined by the economic condition of the household in India. The wealth index is used to glean youth development differentials in the different economic categories of the household. The findings suggest that youth from the bottom 20 per cent (poorest) of households are deprived in education, employment, labour force and are not working currently compared to youth from the middle and rich households. The states differ in yo...

Cellular Automata Simulation for Wealth Distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, Shih-Ching

2009-08-01

Wealth distribution of a country is a complicate system. A model, which is based on the Epstein & Axtell's "Sugars cape" model, is presented in Netlogo. The model considers the income, age, working opportunity and salary as control variables. There are still other variables should be considered while an artificial society is established. In this study, a more complicate cellular automata model for wealth distribution model is proposed. The effects of social welfare, tax, economical investment and inheritance are considered and simulated. According to the cellular automata simulation for wealth distribution, we will have a deep insight of financial policy of the government.

Wealth, fertility and adaptive behaviour in industrial populations

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

The lack of association between wealth and fertility in contemporary industrialized populations has often been used to question the value of an evolutionary perspective on human behaviour. Here, we first present the history of this debate, and the evolutionary explanations for why wealth and fertility (the number of children) are decoupled in modern industrial settings. We suggest that the nature of the relationship between wealth and fertility remains an open question because of the multi-faceted nature of wealth, and because existing cross-sectional studies are ambiguous with respect to how material wealth and fertility are linked. A literature review of longitudinal studies on wealth and fertility shows that the majority of these report positive effects of wealth, although levels of fertility seem to fall below those that would maximize fitness. We emphasize that reproductive decision-making reflects a complex interplay between individual and societal factors that resists simple evolutionary interpretation, and highlight the role of economic insecurity in fertility decisions. We conclude by discussing whether the wealth–fertility relationship can inform us about the adaptiveness of modern fertility behaviour, and argue against simplistic claims regarding maladaptive behaviour in humans. PMID:27022080

Wealth inequality and health: a political economy perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Nowatzki, Nadine R

2012-01-01

Despite a plethora of studies on income inequality and health, researchers have been unable to make any firm conclusions as a result of methodological and theoretical limitations. Within this body of research, there has been a call for studies of wealth inequality and health. Wealth is far more unequally distributed than income and is conceptually unique from income. This paper discusses the results of bivariate cross-sectional analyses of the relationship between wealth inequality (Gini coefficient) and population health (life expectancy and infant mortality) in 14 wealthy countries. The results confirm that wealth inequality is associated with poor population health. Both unweighted and weighted correlations between wealth inequality and health are strong and significant, even after controlling for a variety of potential aggregate-level confounders, including gross domestic product per capita, and after excluding the United States, the most unequal country. The results are strongest for female life expectancy and infant mortality. The author outlines potential pathways through which wealth inequality might affect health, using specific countries to illustrate. The article concludes with policy recommendations that could contribute to a more equitable distribution of wealth and, ultimately, decreased health disparities.

An Analysis of Wealth Management Practices in Pakistan

OpenAIRE

Jamil, Muhammad Salman

2007-01-01

The recent years have seen a great boom in the global wealth management industry. The emergence of the private banking and wealth management segments in banking in the region of Asia, such as Pakistan, China and India since the late 90s, has attained huge proportions and holds a lot of promise for banks and financial institutions today. Banks from all around the world has gradually moved from their aggressive retail banking focus to a higher level adopting wealth management practices. Wealth ...

Health and economic impact of HIV/AIDS on South African households: a cohort study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Booysen Frederick LR

2003-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background South African households are severely affected by human immunodeficiency virus / acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS but health and economic impacts have not been quantified in controlled cohort studies. Methods We compared households with an HIV-infected member, and unaffected neighbouring households, in one rural and one urban area in Free State province, South Africa. Interviews were conducted with one key informant in each household, at baseline and six months later. We studied 1913 members of 404 households, with 94% and 96% follow up, respectively. Household and individual level analyses were done. Results Members of affected households, compared to members of unaffected households, were independently more likely to be continuously ill (adjusted odds ratio (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.3–3.4 at follow up, and to die (adjusted OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.0–11, mainly due to infectious diseases. Government clinics and hospitals were the main sources of health care. Affected households were poorer than unaffected households at baseline (relative income per person 0.61, 95% CI 0.49–0.76. Over six months expenditure and income decreased more rapidly in affected than in unaffected households (baseline-adjusted relative expenditure 0.86, 95% CI 0.75–0.99 and income 0.89, 95% CI 0.75–1.05. Baseline morbidity was independently associated with lower income and expenditure at baseline but not with changes over six months. Conclusions HIV/AIDS affects the health and wealth of households as well as infected individuals, aggravating pre-existing poverty.

The Governance of Global Wealth Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

2017-01-01

This article offers a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains (GWCs) are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in International Political Economy and Economic Geography on Global Value Chains, literature on finance...... innovative financial products produced by large financial institutions and corporations. This article highlights how GWCs intersect with value chains, and provides brief case examples of wealth chains and how they interact.......This article offers a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains (GWCs) are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in International Political Economy and Economic Geography on Global Value Chains, literature on finance...... capacities among suppliers of products used in wealth chains. We then differentiate five types of GWC governance – Market, Modular, Relational, Captive, and Hierarchy – which range from simple ‘off shelf’ products shielded from regulators by advantageous international tax laws to highly complex and flexible...

Urban Household Characteristics and Dietary Diversity: An Analysis of Food Security in Accra, Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Codjoe, Samuel Nii Ardey; Okutu, David; Abu, Mumuni

2016-06-01

The world's population is increasingly becoming urbanized. If the current urban growth rate is to continue, new and unprecedented challenges for food security will be inevitable. Dietary diversity has been used to ascertain food security status albeit at the multicountry and country levels. Thus, household-level studies in urban settings, particularly in sub-Sahara African, are few. Yet, it is imperative that assessments of food security are undertaken particularly in urban settings, due to the projected fast rate of urbanization and the challenges of attaining food security. To examine household characteristics and dietary diversity. The study uses data from 452 households from the second round of the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS) EDULINK urban poverty and health study. Bivariate and multivariate analyses are undertaken. Mean dietary diversity for all households is 6.8. Vegetables have the highest diversity, followed by cereal-based and grain products. Household characteristics that have statistically significant associations with dietary diversity include sex and level of education of household head, household wealth quintile, and source of food. There is high dietary diversity in the study communities of Accra but low consumption of foods rich in micronutrient, such as fruits and milk/dairy products. The study brings to fore issues related to resource-disadvantaged entities of the urban system, namely, females, poor households, and the non-educated who have food insecurity problems. © The Author(s) 2016.

Household HIV Testing Uptake among Contacts of TB Patients in South Africa.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kavindhran Velen

Full Text Available In high HIV prevalence settings, offering HIV testing may be a reasonable part of contact tracing of index tuberculosis (TB patients. We evaluated the uptake of HIV counselling and testing (HCT among household contacts of index TB patients and the proportion of newly diagnosed HIV-infected persons linked into care as part of a household TB contact tracing study.We recruited index TB patients at public health clinics in two South African provinces to obtain consent for household contact tracing. During scheduled household visits we offered TB symptom screening to all household members and HCT to individuals ≥14years of age. Factors associated with HCT uptake were investigated using a random effects logistic regression model.Out of 1,887 listed household members ≥14 years old, 984 (52% were available during a household visit and offered HCT of which 108 (11% self-reported being HIV infected and did not undergo HCT. Of the remaining 876, a total of 304 agreed to HCT (35%; 26 (8.6% were newly diagnosed as HIV positive. In multivariable analysis, factors associated with uptake of HCT were prior testing (odds ratio 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-2.3 and another member in the household testing (odds ratio 2.4; 95% CI: 1.7-3.4. Within 3 months of testing HIV-positive, 35% reported initiating HIV care.HCT as a component of household TB contact tracing reached individuals without prior HIV testing, however uptake of HIV testing was poor. Strategies to improve HIV testing in household contacts should be evaluated.

Guidelines for exploiting natural resource wealth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Ploeg, R.

2014-01-01

The principles of how best to manage the various components of national wealth are outlined, where the permanent income hypothesis, the Hotelling rule, and the Hartwick rule play a prominent role. As far as managing natural resource wealth is concerned, a case is made to use an intergenerational

NATIONAL WEALTH ASSESSMENT AND UTILIZATION IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Martinavičius

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The economy’s power and capacities could be measured using different methodologies and numerous macroindicators. The national wealth definition provides an opportunity to reveal not only accumulated resources, but also exposes a real potential of the country and the path for sustainable development. Wealth measurements for transition countries could show the long term development rationality, comparing national wealth structure and its components for different countries. The two methodologies – National Accounts System and World Bank Measuring of wealth, and the obtained comparison results are discussed in the paper.

Socioeconomic status and chronic child malnutrition: Wealth and maternal education matter more in the Peruvian Andes than nationally.

Science.gov (United States)

Urke, Helga B; Bull, Torill; Mittelmark, Maurice B

2011-10-01

This study investigated the association of parents' socioeconomic status (SES) with child stunting in the Peruvian Andes and in Peru nationally. It was hypothesized that the relationship of SES to child stunting would be weaker in the Andean compared with the national sample. This is consistent with earlier research indicating that the relationship of SES to health may be weak in poor regions. The data were from the Demographic and Health Survey 2004 to 2006. Two samples of children 3 to 60 months old were compared: a national sample (n = 1426) and an Andean sample (n = 543). Malnutrition was measured using the indicator "stunting," which is small stature for age. Socioeconomic status was measured using parental education, occupation, and household wealth index (WI). In both samples, SES was significantly related to stunting. The odds of stunting in the poorest WI quintile were significantly higher than in the richest quintile. The same pattern was observed in children of mothers having incomplete primary education compared with children of mothers having complete secondary or higher education. The odds of stunting were significantly lower in children of mothers working at home compared with mothers in professional occupations. The associations of WI and maternal education with stunting were significantly stronger in the Andean compared with the national sample; the study did not find support for the hypothesis. Even in very poor regions such as the Andes, SES may be associated with child health, suggesting the importance of public health measures to overcome the health disadvantages experienced by children living in low SES households. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Wealth-related inequality in early uptake of HIV testing among pregnant women: an analysis of data from a national cross-sectional survey, South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Ngandu, Nobubelo Kwanele; Van Malderen, Carine; Goga, Ameena; Speybroeck, Niko

2017-01-01

Objectives Wealth-related inequality across the South African antenatal HIV care cascade has not been considered in detail as a potential hindrance to eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission (EMTCT). We aimed to measure wealth-related inequality in early (before enrolling into antenatal care) uptake of HIV testing and identify the contributing determinants. Design Cross-sectional survey. Settings South African primary public health facilities in 2012. Participants A national-level sample of 8618 pregnant women. Outcome measures Wealth-related inequality in early uptake of HIV testing was measured using the Erreygers concentration index (CI) further adjusted for inequality introduced by predicted healthcare need (ie, need-standardised). Determinants contributing to the observed inequality were identified using the Erreygers and Wagstaff decomposition methods. Results Participants were aged 13 to 49 years. Antenatal HIV prevalence was 33.2%, of which 43.7% came from the lowest 40% wealth group. A pro-poor wealth-related inequality in early HIV testing was observed. The need-standardised concentration index was −0.030 (95% confidence interval −0.038 to −0.022). The proportion of early HIV testing was significantly better in the lower 40% wealth group compared with the higher 40% wealth group (p value=0.040). The largest contributions to the observed inequality were from underlying inequalities in province (contribution, 65.27%), age (−44.38%), wealth group (24.73%) and transport means (21.61%). Conclusions Our results on better early uptake of HIV testing among the poorer subpopulation compared with the richer highlights inequity in uptake of HIV testing in South Africa. This socioeconomic difference could contribute to fast-tracking EMTCT given the high HIV prevalence among the lower wealth group. The high contribution of provinces and age to inequality highlights the need to shift from reliance on national-level estimates alone but identify subregional

Wealth-related inequality in early uptake of HIV testing among pregnant women: an analysis of data from a national cross-sectional survey, South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Ngandu, Nobubelo Kwanele; Van Malderen, Carine; Goga, Ameena; Speybroeck, Niko

2017-07-12

Wealth-related inequality across the South African antenatal HIV care cascade has not been considered in detail as a potential hindrance to eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission (EMTCT). We aimed to measure wealth-related inequality in early (before enrolling into antenatal care) uptake of HIV testing and identify the contributing determinants. Cross-sectional survey. South African primary public health facilities in 2012. A national-level sample of 8618 pregnant women. Wealth-related inequality in early uptake of HIV testing was measured using the Erreygers concentration index (CI) further adjusted for inequality introduced by predicted healthcare need (ie, need-standardised). Determinants contributing to the observed inequality were identified using the Erreygers and Wagstaff decomposition methods. Participants were aged 13 to 49 years. Antenatal HIV prevalence was 33.2%, of which 43.7% came from the lowest 40% wealth group. A pro-poor wealth-related inequality in early HIV testing was observed. The need-standardised concentration index was -0.030 (95% confidence interval -0.038 to -0.022). The proportion of early HIV testing was significantly better in the lower 40% wealth group compared with the higher 40% wealth group (p value=0.040). The largest contributions to the observed inequality were from underlying inequalities in province (contribution, 65.27%), age (-44.38%), wealth group (24.73%) and transport means (21.61%). Our results on better early uptake of HIV testing among the poorer subpopulation compared with the richer highlights inequity in uptake of HIV testing in South Africa. This socioeconomic difference could contribute to fast-tracking EMTCT given the high HIV prevalence among the lower wealth group. The high contribution of provinces and age to inequality highlights the need to shift from reliance on national-level estimates alone but identify subregional-specific and age-specific bottlenecks. Future interventions need to be context

WEALTH MANAGEMENT THROUGH ROBO ADVISORY

OpenAIRE

Ishmeet Singh; Navjot Kaur

2017-01-01

Use of artificial intelligence is changing the working styles of human beings in almost every sphere. From Travel, health, education, communication and other related fields, it has now entered wealth management. A number of wealth management firms have adopted the artificial intelligence based services to the clients so that they are able to get investment advice any time as per their convenience. These services are quickly accessible, cheaper, transparent and unbiased. Since the advisory ser...

Self-esteem and Individual Wealth

OpenAIRE

Chatterjee, Swarn; Finke, Michael; Harness, Nathaniel

2008-01-01

Self-esteem measures confidence in one’s abilities. Prior literature has shown that higher self-esteem can also affect individual financial decision making through an increased willingness to invest in risky assets and motivation to enhance self image through wealth accumulation. However, self-esteem can also lead to wealth-destroying investment behaviors due to overconfidence and an unwillingness to accept inevitable losses. Using the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale included in the National Long...

The Association Between Household Consumer Durable Assets and Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Ansong, Eric

2015-01-01

This article examined the association between household consumer durable assets and maternal health-seeking behavior. Several studies have suggested a relationship between households' socioeconomic status (SES) and health outcomes. However, SES is a multidimensional concept that encompasses variables, such as wealth, education, and income. By grouping these variables together as one construct, prior studies have not provided enough insight into possible independent associations with health outcomes. This study used data from the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey of 2,065 women aged between 15 and 49 years to examine the association between household consumer durables (a component of SES) and maternal health-seeking behavior in Ghana. Results from a set of generalized linear models indicated that household consumer durable assets were positively associated with four measures of maternal health-seeking behaviors, namely, seeking prenatal care from skilled health personnel, delivery by skilled birth attendant, place of delivery, and the number of antenatal visits. Also, households with more assets whose residents lived in urban areas were more likely to use skilled health personnel before and during delivery, and at an approved health facility, compared those who lived in rural areas. Implications for health interventions and policies that focus on the most vulnerable households are discussed.

Inequality and visibility of wealth in experimental social networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishi, Akihiro; Shirado, Hirokazu; Rand, David G; Christakis, Nicholas A

2015-10-15

Humans prefer relatively equal distributions of resources, yet societies have varying degrees of economic inequality. To investigate some of the possible determinants and consequences of inequality, here we perform experiments involving a networked public goods game in which subjects interact and gain or lose wealth. Subjects (n = 1,462) were randomly assigned to have higher or lower initial endowments, and were embedded within social networks with three levels of economic inequality (Gini coefficient = 0.0, 0.2, and 0.4). In addition, we manipulated the visibility of the wealth of network neighbours. We show that wealth visibility facilitates the downstream consequences of initial inequality-in initially more unequal situations, wealth visibility leads to greater inequality than when wealth is invisible. This result reflects a heterogeneous response to visibility in richer versus poorer subjects. We also find that making wealth visible has adverse welfare consequences, yielding lower levels of overall cooperation, inter-connectedness, and wealth. High initial levels of economic inequality alone, however, have relatively few deleterious welfare effects.

Assessing the effect of marine reserves on household food security in Kenyan coral reef fishing communities.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily S Darling

Full Text Available Measuring the success or failure of natural resource management is a key challenge to evaluate the impact of conservation for ecological, economic and social outcomes. Marine reserves are a popular tool for managing coastal ecosystems and resources yet surprisingly few studies have quantified the social-economic impacts of marine reserves on food security despite the critical importance of this outcome for fisheries management in developing countries. Here, I conducted semi-structured household surveys with 113 women heads-of-households to investigate the influence of two old, well-enforced, no-take marine reserves on food security in four coastal fishing communities in Kenya, East Africa. Multi-model information-theoretic inference and matching methods found that marine reserves did not influence household food security, as measured by protein consumption, diet diversity and food coping strategies. Instead, food security was strongly influenced by fishing livelihoods and household wealth: fishing families and wealthier households were more food secure than non-fishing and poorer households. These findings highlight the importance of complex social and economic landscapes of livelihoods, urbanization, power and gender dynamics that can drive the outcomes of marine conservation and management.

Top wealth shares in Australia 1915-2012

OpenAIRE

Katic, Pamela; Leigh, Andrew

2016-01-01

Combining data from surveys, inheritance tax records, and rich lists, we estimate top wealth shares for Australia from World War I until the present day. We find that the top 1 percent share declined by two-thirds from 1915 until the late 1960s, and rose from the late 1970s to 2010. The recent increase is sharpest at the top of the distribution, with the top 0.001 percent wealth share tripling from 1984 to 2012. The trend in top wealth shares is similar to that in Australian top income shares...

Health, Wealth and Happiness: Why pursue a Higher Education?

OpenAIRE

Hartog, Joop; Oosterbeek, Hessel

1997-01-01

We explore the effect of schooling on health, wealth and happiness for a cohort of Dutch individuals born around 1940. We also use observations on childhood IQ and family background. The most fortunate group is the group with a non-vocational intermediate level education: they score highest on health, wealth and happiness. We find that IQ affects health, but not wealth or happiness. Family background level increases wealth, but neither health nor happiness. With a father who worked independen...

The Governance of Global Wealth Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

) innovation capacities among suppliers of products used in wealth chains. We then differentiate five types of global value chain governance - market, modular, relational, captive, and hierarchy - which range from simple ‘off shelf’ products shielded from regulators by advantageous international tax laws...... to highly complex and flexible innovative financial products produced by large financial institutions and corporations. This paper highlights how Global Wealth Chains intersect with value chains and real economies, and provides three brief case studies on offshore shell companies, family property trusts......This working paper creates a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in international political economy and economic geography on Global Value Chains, literature on finance...

Individual wealth rank, community wealth inequality, and self-reported adult poor health: a test of hypotheses with panel data (2002-2006) from native Amazonians, Bolivia.

Science.gov (United States)

Undurraga, Eduardo A; Nyberg, Colleen; Eisenberg, Dan T A; Magvanjav, Oyunbileg; Reyes-García, Victoria; Huanca, Tomás; Leonard, William R; McDade, Thomas W; Tanner, Susan; Vadez, Vincent; Godoy, Ricardo

2010-12-01

Growing evidence suggests that economic inequality in a community harms the health of a person. Using panel data from a small-scale, preindustrial rural society, we test whether individual wealth rank and village wealth inequality affects self-reported poor health in a foraging-farming native Amazonian society. A person's wealth rank was negatively but weakly associated with self-reported morbidity. Each step up/year in the village wealth hierarchy reduced total self-reported days ill by 0.4 percent. The Gini coefficient of village wealth inequality bore a positive association with self-reported poor health that was large in size, but not statistically significant. We found small village wealth inequality, and evidence that individual economic rank did not change. The modest effects may have to do with having used subjective rather than objective measures of health, having small village wealth inequality, and with the possibly true modest effect of a person's wealth rank on health in a small-scale, kin-based society. Finally, we also found that an increase in mean individual wealth by village was related to worse self-reported health. As the Tsimane' integrate into the market economy, their possibilities of wealth accumulation rise, which may affect their well-being. Our work contributes to recent efforts in biocultural anthropology to link the study of social inequalities, human biology, and human-environment interactions.

Wealth, welfare and sustainable growth and development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moe, Thorvald

2011-07-01

This Policy Note discuses, based on modern development theory and wealth accounting, challenges for economic- and fiscal policies in resource-producing countries defined as countries - both developed and developing low income countries - which rely heavily on non-renewable or exhaustible natural wealth.(Author)

WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY IN CHILD IMMUNIZATION IN INDIA: A DECOMPOSITION APPROACH.

Science.gov (United States)

Debnath, Avijit; Bhattacharjee, Nairita

2018-05-01

SummaryDespite years of health and medical advancement, children still suffer from infectious diseases that are vaccine preventable. India reacted in 1978 by launching the Expanded Programme on Immunization in an attempt to reduce the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs). Although the nation has made remarkable progress over the years, there is significant variation in immunization coverage across different socioeconomic strata. This study attempted to identify the determinants of wealth-based inequality in child immunization using a new, modified method. The present study was based on 11,001 eligible ever-married women aged 15-49 and their children aged 12-23 months. Data were from the third District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS-3) of India, 2007-08. Using an approximation of Erreyger's decomposition technique, the study identified unequal access to antenatal care as the main factor associated with inequality in immunization coverage in India.

Association of a Negative Wealth Shock With All-Cause Mortality in Middle-aged and Older Adults in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Pool, Lindsay R; Burgard, Sarah A; Needham, Belinda L; Elliott, Michael R; Langa, Kenneth M; Mendes de Leon, Carlos F

2018-04-03

A sudden loss of wealth-a negative wealth shock-may lead to a significant mental health toll and also leave fewer monetary resources for health-related expenses. With limited years remaining to regain lost wealth in older age, the health consequences of these negative wealth shocks may be long-lasting. To determine whether a negative wealth shock was associated with all-cause mortality during 20 years of follow-up. The Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative prospective cohort study of US adults aged 51 through 61 years at study entry. The study population included 8714 adults, first assessed for a negative wealth shock in 1994 and followed biennially through 2014 (the most recent year of available data). Experiencing a negative wealth shock, defined as a loss of 75% or more of total net worth over a 2-year period, or asset poverty, defined as 0 or negative total net worth at study entry. Mortality data were collected from the National Death Index and postmortem interviews with family members. Marginal structural survival methods were used to account for the potential bias due to changes in health status that may both trigger negative wealth shocks and act as the mechanism through which negative wealth shocks lead to increased mortality. There were 8714 participants in the study sample (mean [SD] age at study entry, 55 [3.2] years; 53% women), 2430 experienced a negative wealth shock during follow-up, 749 had asset poverty at baseline, and 5535 had continuously positive wealth without shock. A total of 2823 deaths occurred during 80 683 person-years of follow-up. There were 30.6 vs 64.9 deaths per 1000 person-years for those with continuously positive wealth vs negative wealth shock (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.50; 95% CI, 1.36-1.67). There were 73.4 deaths per 1000 person-years for those with asset poverty at baseline (adjusted HR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.44-1.94; compared with continuously positive wealth). Among US adults aged 51 years and older

Impact of HIV and AIDS on household food and nutrition security in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The impact of HIV/AIDS on household food and nutrition security in Suba district was studied in a quasi longitudinal study. Households with People Living with HIV/AIDS (Index- 25%) and three surrounding households (control- 75%) were considered for the study. Data were collected on demographic characteristics of the ...

Three Essays Examining Household Energy Demand and Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Anthony G.

This dissertation consists of three essays examining household energy decisions and behavior. The first essay examines the adoption of energy efficient Energy Star home appliances by U.S. households. Program effectiveness requires that consumers be aware of the labeling scheme and also change their purchase decisions based on label information. The first essay examines the factors associated with consumer awareness of the Energy Star label of recently purchased major appliances and the factors associated with the choice of Energy Star labeled appliances. The findings suggest that eliminating identified gaps in Energy Star appliance adoption would result in house electricity cost savings of $164 million per year and associated carbon emission reductions of about 1.1 million metric tons per year. The second essay evaluates household energy security and the effectiveness of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the single largest energy assistance program available to poor households within the United States. Energy security is conceptually akin to the well-known concept of food security. Rasch models and household responses to energy security questions in the 2005 Residential Energy Consumption Survey are used to generate an energy insecurity index that is consistent with those found in the food insecurity literature. Participating in LIHEAP is found to significantly reduce household energy insecurity score in the index. Further, simulations show that the elimination of the energy assistance safety net currently available to households increases the number of energy insecure house- holds by over 16 percent. The third essay develops a five equation demand system to estimate household own-price, cross-price and income elasticities between electricity, natural gas, food at home, food away from home, and non-durable commodity groups. Household cross-price elasticities between energy and food commodities are of particular importance. Energy price shocks

Health, Wealth and Happiness: Why Pursue a Higher Education?

Science.gov (United States)

Hartog, Joop; Oosterbeek, Hessel

1998-01-01

Explores schooling's effect on health, wealth, and happiness for a cohort of Dutch individuals born around 1940. Uses observations on childhood IQ and family background. The group with a nonvocational, intermediate-level education scored highest on all three factors. IQ affects health, not wealth or happiness. Family background increases wealth,…

The Governance of Global Wealth Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

liability and (3) innovation capacities among suppliers of products used in wealth chains. We then differentiate five types of global value chain governance - market, modular, relational, captive, an d hierarchy – which range from simple ‘off shelf’ products shielded from regulators by advantageous...... international tax laws to highly complex and flexible innovative financial products produced by large financial institutions and corporations. This article highlights how Global Wealth Cha ins intersect with value chains and real economies, and provides three brief case studies on offshore shell companies......This introduction to the Special Issue creates a theoretical framework to explain how Global Wealth Chains are created, maintained, and governed. We draw upon different strands of literature, including scholarship in international political economy and economic geography on Global Value Chains...

Nonmarital Fertility, Union History, and Women's Wealth.

Science.gov (United States)

Painter, Matthew; Frech, Adrianne; Williams, Kristi

2015-02-01

We use more than 20 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to examine wealth trajectories among mothers following a nonmarital first birth. We compare wealth according to union type and union stability, and we distinguish partners by biological parentage of the firstborn child. Net of controls for education, race/ethnicity, and family background, single mothers who enter into stable marriages with either a biological father or stepfather experience significant wealth advantages over time (more than $2,500 per year) relative to those who marry and divorce, cohabit, or remain unpartnered. Sensitivity analyses adjusting for unequal selection into marriage support these findings and demonstrate that race (but not ethnicity) and age at first birth structure mothers' access to later marriage. We conclude that not all single mothers have equal access to marriage; however, marriage, union stability, and paternity have distinct roles for wealth accumulation following a nonmarital birth.

Wealth Distribution and Mobility in Denmark: a Longitudinal Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bentzen, Jan Børsen; Schmidt-Sørensen, Jan Beyer

1994-01-01

We describe and analyse wealth mobility in a national sample of 32,675 individuals from the Danish Longitudinal Database over the period from 1983 to 1990. A transition matrix, the Shorrocks measure, average decile position for various subgroups, and wealth in 1990 compared with wealth in 1983...... are used to describe patterns of wealth mobility. These results and regression models of change in percentile position identify winners and losers. The losers include students, singles with children, those who changed residence and those who experienced unemployment, while the winners were the houseowners...

Grand Advantage: Family Wealth and Grandchildren's Educational Achievement in Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Hällsten, Martin; Pfeffer, Fabian T

2017-04-01

We study the role of family wealth for children's educational achievement using novel and unique Swedish register data. In particular, we focus on the relationship between grandparents' wealth and their grandchildren's educational achievement. Doing so allows us to reliably establish the independent role of wealth in contributing to long-term inequalities in opportunity. We use regression models with rich controls to account for observed socioeconomic characteristics of families, cousin fixed effects to net out potentially unobserved grandparental effects, and marginal structural models to account for endogenous selection. We find substantial associations between grandparents' wealth and their grandchildren's grade point averages (GPA) in the 9th grade that are only partly mediated by the socioeconomic characteristics and wealth of parents. Our findings indicate that family wealth inequality - even in a comparatively egalitarian context like Sweden - has profound consequences for the distribution of opportunity across multiple generations. We posit that our estimates of the long-term consequences of wealth inequality may be conservative for nations other than Sweden, like the United States, where family wealth - in addition to its insurance and normative functions - allows the direct purchase of educational quality and access.

Preliminary findings of a randomized trial of non-pharmaceutical interventions to prevent influenza transmission in households.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin J Cowling

2008-05-01

Full Text Available There are sparse data on whether non-pharmaceutical interventions can reduce the spread of influenza. We implemented a study of the feasibility and efficacy of face masks and hand hygiene to reduce influenza transmission among Hong Kong household members.We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial of households (composed of at least 3 members where an index subject presented with influenza-like-illness of <48 hours duration. After influenza was confirmed in an index case by the QuickVue Influenza A+B rapid test, the household of the index subject was randomized to 1 control or 2 surgical face masks or 3 hand hygiene. Households were visited within 36 hours, and 3, 6 and 9 days later. Nose and throat swabs were collected from index subjects and all household contacts at each home visit and tested by viral culture. The primary outcome measure was laboratory culture confirmed influenza in a household contact; the secondary outcome was clinically diagnosed influenza (by self-reported symptoms. We randomized 198 households and completed follow up home visits in 128; the index cases in 122 of those households had laboratory-confirmed influenza. There were 21 household contacts with laboratory confirmed influenza corresponding to a secondary attack ratio of 6%. Clinical secondary attack ratios varied from 5% to 18% depending on case definitions. The laboratory-based or clinical secondary attack ratios did not significantly differ across the intervention arms. Adherence to interventions was variable.The secondary attack ratios were lower than anticipated, and lower than reported in other countries, perhaps due to differing patterns of susceptibility, lack of significant antigenic drift in circulating influenza virus strains recently, and/or issues related to the symptomatic recruitment design. Lessons learnt from this pilot have informed changes for the main study in 2008.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00425893 HKClinicalTrials.com HKCTR-365.

Invisible work: Child work in households with a person living with HIV/AIDS in Central Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Abimanyi-Ochom, Julie; Inder, Brett; Hollingsworth, Bruce; Lorgelly, Paula

2017-12-01

HIV/AIDS has led to increased mortality and morbidity, negatively impacting adult labour especially in HIV/AIDS burdened Sub-Saharan Africa. There has been some exploration of the effects of HIV/AIDS on paid child labour, but little empirical work on children's non-paid child work. This paper provides quantitative evidence of how child and household-level factors affect children's involvement in both domestic and family farm work for households with a person living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) compared to non-PLWHA households using the 2010/2011 Centre for Health Economics Uganda HIV questionnaire Survey. Descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic modelling is used to explore child and household-level factors that affect children's work participation. This research reveals greater demands on the labour of children in PLWHA households in terms of family farm work especially for boys. Results highlight the expected gendered social responsibilities within the household space, with girls and boys engaged more in domestic and family farm work, respectively. Girls shared a greater proportion of household financial burden by working more hours in paid work outside the household than boys. Lastly, the study revealed that a household head's occupation increases children's participation in farm work but had a partial compensatory effect on their involvement in domestic work. Wealth and socio-economic standing is no guarantee to reducing child work. Children from PLWHA households are more vulnerable to child work in family farm work especially boys; and girls are burdened beyond the household space through paid work. Differing perspectives and solutions need to consider the contextual nature of child work.

The Dynamics of Wealth Inequality and the Effect of Income Distribution.

Science.gov (United States)

Berman, Yonatan; Ben-Jacob, Eshel; Shapira, Yoash

2016-01-01

The rapid increase of wealth inequality in the past few decades is one of the most disturbing social and economic issues of our time. Studying its origin and underlying mechanisms is essential for policy aiming to control and even reverse this trend. In that context, controlling the distribution of income, using income tax or other macroeconomic policy instruments, is generally perceived as effective for regulating the wealth distribution. We provide a theoretical tool, based on the realistic modeling of wealth inequality dynamics, to describe the effects of personal savings and income distribution on wealth inequality. Our theoretical approach incorporates coupled equations, solved using iterated maps to model the dynamics of wealth and income inequality. Notably, using the appropriate historical parameter values we were able to capture the historical dynamics of wealth inequality in the United States during the course of the 20th century. It is found that the effect of personal savings on wealth inequality is substantial, and its major decrease in the past 30 years can be associated with the current wealth inequality surge. In addition, the effect of increasing income tax, though naturally contributing to lowering income inequality, might contribute to a mild increase in wealth inequality and vice versa. Plausible changes in income tax are found to have an insignificant effect on wealth inequality, in practice. In addition, controlling the income inequality, by progressive taxation, for example, is found to have a very small effect on wealth inequality in the short run. The results imply, therefore, that controlling income inequality is an impractical tool for regulating wealth inequality.

Souverinity Wealth Funds (Swfs): Kapitalisme Baru oleh Negara?

OpenAIRE

-, Ambarwati

2011-01-01

A sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) is a state-owned investment fund composed of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, property, precious metals or other financial instruments. Its invest globally and have been around for decades but since 2000, the number of sovereign wealth funds has increased dramatically. This article try to understand what is SWFs, Why does a nation need SWFs, and try to understand the position of SWFs in the global financial market. Key words: sovereign wealth funds a...

WEALTH MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN THE ERA OF E-COMMERCE

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Mohammed Shahedul QUADER

2011-06-01

Full Text Available This paper looks at the key strategies being applied by wealth management and their competitive position.Each approach has merits, although the multi-channel ‘single brand’ approach seems to be gathering momentum. Ecommercefacilitates differentiation and requires focus, whilst making cost leadership more difficult Choices betweenbeing a traditional or extended wealth manager, or simply a wealth product provider, are increasingly being made.Moreover need for strategic choice in the wealth management market is presented, before looking in more detail at thewealth management strategies commonly adopted. The relative success of each is considered, together with thecompetitive advantages to be gained.

The evolution of wealth transmission in human populations: a stochastic model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Augustins, G; Etienne, L; Ferrer, R; Godelle, B; Rousset, F; Ferdy, J-B; Pitard, E

2014-01-01

Reproductive success and survival are influenced by wealth in human populations. Wealth is transmitted to offsprings and strategies of transmission vary over time and among populations, the main variation being how equally wealth is transmitted to children. Here we propose a model where we simulate both the dynamics of wealth in a population and the evolution of a trait that determines how wealth is transmitted from parents to offspring, in a darwinian context

Multiple chronic health conditions and their link with wealth assets.

Science.gov (United States)

Schofield, Deborah J; Callander, Emily J; Shrestha, Rupendra N; Passey, Megan E; Kelly, Simon J; Percival, Richard

2015-04-01

There has been little research on the economic status of those with multiple health conditions, particularly on the relationship between multiple health conditions and wealth. This paper will assess the difference in the value and type of wealth assets held by Australians who have multiple chronic health conditions. Using Health&WealthMOD, a microsimulation model of the 45-64-year-old Australian population in 2009, a counterfactual analysis was undertaken. The actual proportion of people with different numbers of chronic health conditions with any wealth, and the value of this wealth was estimated. This was compared with the counterfactual values had the individuals had no chronic health conditions. There was no change in the proportion of people with one health condition who actually had any wealth, compared to the counterfactual proportion had they had no chronic health conditions. Ninety-four percent of those with four or more health conditions had some accumulated wealth; however, under the counterfactual, 100% would have had some accumulated wealth. There was little change in the value of non-income-producing assets under the counterfactual, regardless of number of health conditions. Those with four or more chronic health conditions had a mean value of $17 000 in income-producing assets; under the counterfactual, the average would have been $78 000. This study has highlighted the variation in the value of wealth according to number of chronic health conditions, and hence the importance of considering multiple morbidities when discussing the relationship between health and wealth. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

The Dynamics of Wealth Inequality and the Effect of Income Distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Berman, Yonatan; Shapira, Yoash

2016-01-01

The rapid increase of wealth inequality in the past few decades is one of the most disturbing social and economic issues of our time. Studying its origin and underlying mechanisms is essential for policy aiming to control and even reverse this trend. In that context, controlling the distribution of income, using income tax or other macroeconomic policy instruments, is generally perceived as effective for regulating the wealth distribution. We provide a theoretical tool, based on the realistic modeling of wealth inequality dynamics, to describe the effects of personal savings and income distribution on wealth inequality. Our theoretical approach incorporates coupled equations, solved using iterated maps to model the dynamics of wealth and income inequality. Notably, using the appropriate historical parameter values we were able to capture the historical dynamics of wealth inequality in the United States during the course of the 20th century. It is found that the effect of personal savings on wealth inequality is substantial, and its major decrease in the past 30 years can be associated with the current wealth inequality surge. In addition, the effect of increasing income tax, though naturally contributing to lowering income inequality, might contribute to a mild increase in wealth inequality and vice versa. Plausible changes in income tax are found to have an insignificant effect on wealth inequality, in practice. In addition, controlling the income inequality, by progressive taxation, for example, is found to have a very small effect on wealth inequality in the short run. The results imply, therefore, that controlling income inequality is an impractical tool for regulating wealth inequality. PMID:27105224

The Dynamics of Wealth Inequality and the Effect of Income Distribution.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yonatan Berman

Full Text Available The rapid increase of wealth inequality in the past few decades is one of the most disturbing social and economic issues of our time. Studying its origin and underlying mechanisms is essential for policy aiming to control and even reverse this trend. In that context, controlling the distribution of income, using income tax or other macroeconomic policy instruments, is generally perceived as effective for regulating the wealth distribution. We provide a theoretical tool, based on the realistic modeling of wealth inequality dynamics, to describe the effects of personal savings and income distribution on wealth inequality. Our theoretical approach incorporates coupled equations, solved using iterated maps to model the dynamics of wealth and income inequality. Notably, using the appropriate historical parameter values we were able to capture the historical dynamics of wealth inequality in the United States during the course of the 20th century. It is found that the effect of personal savings on wealth inequality is substantial, and its major decrease in the past 30 years can be associated with the current wealth inequality surge. In addition, the effect of increasing income tax, though naturally contributing to lowering income inequality, might contribute to a mild increase in wealth inequality and vice versa. Plausible changes in income tax are found to have an insignificant effect on wealth inequality, in practice. In addition, controlling the income inequality, by progressive taxation, for example, is found to have a very small effect on wealth inequality in the short run. The results imply, therefore, that controlling income inequality is an impractical tool for regulating wealth inequality.

Transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to household contacts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

F.P.N. Mollema (Femke); J.H. Richardus (Jan Hendrik); M.D. Behrendt (Myra); N. Vaessen (Norbert); W. Lodder; W. Hendriks; H.A. Verbrugh (Henri); A. Voss (Andreas)

2010-01-01

textabstractThe frequency of and risk factors for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) transmission from a MRSA index person to household contacts were assessed in this prospective study. Between January 2005 and December 2007, 62 newly diagnosed MRSA index persons (46 patients and 16

Poverty identification for a pro-poor health insurance scheme in Tanzania: reliability and multi-level stakeholder perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuwawenaruwa, August; Baraka, Jitihada; Ramsey, Kate; Manzi, Fatuma; Bellows, Ben; Borghi, Josephine

2015-12-01

Many low income countries have policies to exempt the poor from user charges in public facilities. Reliably identifying the poor is a challenge when implementing such policies. In Tanzania, a scorecard system was established in 2011, within a programme providing free national health insurance fund (NHIF) cards, to identify poor pregnant women and their families, based on eight components. Using a series of reliability tests on a 2012 dataset of 2,621 households in two districts, this study compares household poverty levels using the scorecard, a wealth index, and monthly consumption expenditures. We compared the distributions of the three wealth measures, and the consistency of household poverty classification using cross-tabulations and the Kappa statistic. We measured errors of inclusion and exclusion of the scorecard relative to the other methods. We also gathered perceptions of the scorecard criteria through qualitative interviews with stakeholders at multiple levels of the health system. The distribution of the scorecard was less skewed than other wealth measures and not truncated, but demonstrated clumping. There was a higher level of agreement between the scorecard and the wealth index than consumption expenditure. The scorecard identified a similar number of poor households as the "basic needs" poverty line based on monthly consumption expenditure, with only 45 % errors of inclusion. However, it failed to pick up half of those living below the "basic needs" poverty line as being poor. Stakeholders supported the inclusion of water sources, income, food security and disability measures but had reservations about other items on the scorecard. In choosing poverty identification strategies for programmes seeking to enhance health equity it's necessary to balance between community acceptability, local relevance and the need for such a strategy. It is important to ensure the strategy is efficient and less costly than alternatives in order to effectively reduce

Revisiting r > g-The asymptotic dynamics of wealth inequality

Science.gov (United States)

Berman, Yonatan; Shapira, Yoash

2017-02-01

Studying the underlying mechanisms of wealth inequality dynamics is essential for its understanding and for policy aiming to regulate its level. We apply a heterogeneous non-interacting agent-based modeling approach, solved using iterated maps to model the dynamics of wealth inequality based on 3 parameters-the economic output growth rate g, the capital value change rate a and the personal savings rate s and show that for a income distribution. If a > g, the wealth distribution constantly becomes more and more inegalitarian. We also show that when a economic output, which also implies that the wealth-disposable income ratio asymptotically converges to s /(g - a) .

Wealth Share Analysis with “Fundamentalist/Chartist” Heterogeneous Agents

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Hai-Chuan Xu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We build a multiassets heterogeneous agents model with fundamentalists and chartists, who make investment decisions by maximizing the constant relative risk aversion utility function. We verify that the model can reproduce the main stylized facts in real markets, such as fat-tailed return distribution and long-term memory in volatility. Based on the calibrated model, we study the impacts of the key strategies’ parameters on investors’ wealth shares. We find that, as chartists’ exponential moving average periods increase, their wealth shares also show an increasing trend. This means that higher memory length can help to improve their wealth shares. This effect saturates when the exponential moving average periods are sufficiently long. On the other hand, the mean reversion parameter has no obvious impacts on wealth shares of either type of traders. It suggests that no matter whether fundamentalists take moderate strategy or aggressive strategy on the mistake of stock prices, it will have no different impact on their wealth shares in the long run.

Financial Service of Wealth Management Banking: Balanced Scorecard Approach

OpenAIRE

Cheng-Ru Wu; Chin-Tsai Lin; Pei-Hsuan Tsai

2008-01-01

Problem Statement: There are four main banking business sectors in Taiwan, involving the areas of consumer, corporate, wealth management, and investment banking. The wealth management banking sector is actively promoted for reaping a risk-free premium. In the proposed model, the dimensions of financial services for wealth management banks have been taken from four perspectives derived from balanced scorecard approach, viz. finance, customer, internal business, learning and growth. Approach: T...

Is the U.S. Retirement System Contributing to Rising Wealth Inequality?

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Sebastian Devlin-Foltz

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Data from the Survey of Consumer Finances for 1989 through 2013 reveal five broad findings. First, overall retirement plan participation was stable or rising through 2007, though overall participation fell noticeably in the wake of the Great Recession and has remained lower. Second, cohort-based analysis of life-cycle trajectories shows that participation in retirement plans is strongly correlated with income, and that the recent decline in participation is concentrated among younger and low- to middle-income families. Third, the shift in the type of pension coverage from defined benefit (DB to defined contribution (DC occurred within—not just across—income groups. Fourth, retirement wealth is less concentrated than nonretirement wealth, so the growth of retirement wealth relative to nonretirement wealth helped offset the increasing concentration in nonretirement wealth. Fifth, the shift from DB to DC had only a modest effect in the other direction because DC wealth is more concentrated than DB wealth.

Energy and the Wealth of Nations Understanding the Biophysical Economy

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Hall, Charles A S

2012-01-01

For the past 150 years, economics has been treated as a social science in which economies are modeled as a circular flow of income between producers and consumers.  In this “perpetual motion” of interactions between firms that produce and households that consume, little or no accounting is given of the flow of energy and materials from the environment and back again.  In the standard economic model, energy and matter are completely recycled in these transactions, and economic activity is seemingly exempt from the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  As we enter the second half of the age of oil, and as energy supplies and the environmental impacts of energy production and consumption become major issues on the world stage, this exemption appears illusory at best. In Energy and the Wealth of Nations, concepts such as energy return on investment (EROI) provide powerful insights into the real balance sheets that drive our “petroleum economy.” Hall and Klitgaard explore the relation between energy and the we...

Income-rich and wealth-poor? The impact of measures of socio-economic status in the analysis of the distribution of long-term care use among older people.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodrigues, Ricardo; Ilinca, Stefania; Schmidt, Andrea E

2018-03-01

This article aims to investigate the impact of using 2 measures of socio-economic status on the analysis of how informal care and home care use are distributed among older people living in the community. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe for 14 European countries, we estimate differences in corrected concentration indices for use of informal care and home care, using equivalised household net income and equivalised net worth (as a proxy for wealth). We also calculate horizontal inequity indices using both measures of socio-economic status and accounting for differences in need. The findings show that using wealth as a ranking variable results, as a rule, in a less pro-poor inequality of use for both informal and home care. Once differences in need are controlled for (horizontal inequity), wealth still results in a less pro-poor distribution for informal care, in comparison with income, whereas the opposite is observed for home care. Possible explanations for these differences and research and policy implications are discussed. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Grand Advantage: Family Wealth and Grandchildren’s Educational Achievement in Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

Hällsten, Martin; Pfeffer, Fabian T.

2017-01-01

We study the role of family wealth for children’s educational achievement using novel and unique Swedish register data. In particular, we focus on the relationship between grandparents’ wealth and their grandchildren’s educational achievement. Doing so allows us to reliably establish the independent role of wealth in contributing to long-term inequalities in opportunity. We use regression models with rich controls to account for observed socioeconomic characteristics of families, cousin fixed effects to net out potentially unobserved grandparental effects, and marginal structural models to account for endogenous selection. We find substantial associations between grandparents’ wealth and their grandchildren’s grade point averages (GPA) in the 9th grade that are only partly mediated by the socioeconomic characteristics and wealth of parents. Our findings indicate that family wealth inequality – even in a comparatively egalitarian context like Sweden – has profound consequences for the distribution of opportunity across multiple generations. We posit that our estimates of the long-term consequences of wealth inequality may be conservative for nations other than Sweden, like the United States, where family wealth – in addition to its insurance and normative functions – allows the direct purchase of educational quality and access. PMID:29200464

Education Modifies the Association of Wealth with Obesity in Women in Middle-Income but Not Low-Income Countries: An Interaction Study Using Seven National Datasets, 2005-2010

Science.gov (United States)

Aitsi-Selmi, Amina; Bell, Ruth; Shipley, Martin J.; Marmot, Michael G.

2014-01-01

Background Education and wealth may have different associations with female obesity but this has not been investigated in detail outside high-income countries. This study examines the separate and inter-related associations of education and household wealth in relation to obesity in women in a representative sample of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods The seven largest national surveys were selected from a list of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) ordered by decreasing sample size and resulted in a range of country income levels. These were nationally representative data of women aged 15–49 years collected in the period 2005–2010. The separate and joint effects, unadjusted and adjusted for age group, parity, and urban/rural residence using a multivariate logistic regression model are presented Results In the four middle-income countries (Colombia, Peru, Jordan, and Egypt), an interaction was found between education and wealth on obesity (P-value for interaction wealth effect was positive whereas in the group with higher education it was either absent or inverted (negative). In the poorer countries (India, Nigeria, Benin), there was no evidence of an interaction. Instead, the associations between each of education and wealth with obesity were independent and positive. There was a statistically significant difference between the average interaction estimates for the low-income and middle-income countries (Pwealth as countries develop. Further research could examine the factors explaining the country differences in education effects. PMID:24608086

The Middle Eastern Wealth Management Industry: Boon or Bust?

OpenAIRE

Michael, Bryane; Apostoloski, Nenad

2014-01-01

The wealth management industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) represents a roughly $800 billion opportunity. Yet, tapping this opportunity will require new strategies by the wirehouses looking to penetrate into this market. In this paper, we argue that Middle-Eastern policymakers and bankers will need to develop an indigenous wealth management industry which keeps the super-wealthy’s investments at home. Developing a local national wealth management industry requires letting in fo...

SMEs’ Wealth Creation Model of an Emerging Economy

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Olalekan Usiobaifo ASIKHIA

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This article synthesizes the evidence on SMEs’ wealth creation in an emerging economy, paying particular attention to human resource/expertise, technology adoption, innovation and creativity, unit economies, organizational infrastructure and strategy as determinants of SMEs’ wealth creation. A survey of 581 Nigerian SMEs was conducted and the data was analysed and tested using multiple regression and structural equation modelling. The findings revealed Human resource/CEOs expertise as the highest contributory factor to wealth creation within the firm in the industrial and the commercial sectors. The relevant domains were modelled and relevant policy adjustments were suggested.

The relationship between dietary patterns, body mass index percentile, and household food security in young urban children.

Science.gov (United States)

Trapp, Christine M; Burke, Georgine; Gorin, Amy A; Wiley, James F; Hernandez, Dominica; Crowell, Rebecca E; Grant, Autherene; Beaulieu, Annamarie; Cloutier, Michelle M

2015-04-01

The relationship between food insecurity and child obesity is unclear. Few studies have examined dietary patterns in children with regard to household food security and weight status. The aim of this study was to examine the association between household food security, dietary intake, and BMI percentile in low-income, preschool children. Low-income caregivers (n=222) with children ages 2-4 years were enrolled in a primary-care-based obesity prevention/reversal study (Steps to Growing Up Healthy) between October 2010 and December 2011. At baseline, demographic data, household food security status (US Household Food Security Instrument) and dietary intake (Children's Dietary Questionnaire; CDQ) were collected. BMI percentile was calculated from anthropometric data. Participating children were primarily Hispanic (90%), Medicaid insured (95%), 50% female, 35±8.7 months of age (mean±standard deviation), 19% overweight (BMI 85th-94th percentile), and 29% obese (≥95th percentile). Thirty-eight percent of interviews were conducted in Spanish. Twenty-five percent of households reported food insecurity. There was no association between household food insecurity and child BMI percentile. Dietary patterns of the children based on the CDQ did not differ by household food security status. Food group subscale scores (fruit and vegetable, fat from dairy, sweetened beverages, and noncore foods) on the CDQ did not differ between normal weight and overweight/obese children. Maternal depression and stress did not mediate the relationship between household food insecurity and child weight status. Hispanic children were more likely to be overweight or obese in both food-secure and food-insecure households. Household food insecurity was not associated with child BMI percentile in this study. Dietary intake patterns of children from food-insecure households were not different compared to those from food-secure households.

The Theoretical-Methodological Foundations for Studying the Wealth: a Conceptual-Categorial Analysis of the «Wealth – Potential – Development»

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Silantiev Oleh I.

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed at identifying possibilities for improving theoretical approaches to understanding the contemporary processes in the development of macroeconomic systems and the formation of value of wealth. A conceptual-categorial analysis of the «wealth – potential – development» was carried out using the integrated, complex, system and logical approaches. The article provides improved theoretical approaches to understanding the contemporary processes that are taking place in the world and are linked to the dehumanization of society, when the value of wealth is artificially imposed. The results obtained have a wide potential for practical application, especially in the sphere of production and promotion of goods. Prospect for further research in this direction is an in-depth study on the processes of formation of value, production and consumption of wealth in the current contradictory conditions of transition to post-industrial society.

WEALTH TAX WITHIN EUROPE IN THE CONTEXT OF A POSSIBLE IMPLEMENTATION IN ROMANIA– THE EXISTING WEALTH TAX AND ITS DECLINE IN EUROPE

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LUMINIŢA RISTEA

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to focus our attention on the conceptualbasis upon which the wealth tax system may be implemented in Romania taking intoconsideration former and actual presence of wealth tax within Europe. The idea of increasingthe taxable basis based on imposing the wealth constitutes one of the most important debatetopics on the agenda of the Romanian Parliament and Government and also within specialists’theoretical approaches. The vast range of such approaches and further solutions is to beanalysed in the global context of direct taxation in Europe and worldwide and particularlyrelevant for the complexity of the problem is the evolution of wealth tax during the last decadesand also the very important context of moving corporate main offices in countries with moreadvantageous systems of taxation.

Wealth Inequality in the Netherlands, c. 1950-2015

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bavel, van Bas; Frankema, Ewout

2017-01-01

This paper reviews the available evidence on post-war trends in Dutch private wealth inequality using a range of scattered sources. Wealth tax records suggest a substantial decline in inequality to the 1970s and, more tentatively, a gradual rise thereafter. In the post-1990 years,

Women's autonomy in household decision-making: a demographic study in Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

Acharya, Dev R; Bell, Jacqueline S; Simkhada, Padam; van Teijlingen, Edwin R; Regmi, Pramod R

2010-07-15

How socio-demographic factors influence women's autonomy in decision making on health care including purchasing goods and visiting family and relatives are very poorly studied in Nepal. This study aims to explore the links between women's household position and their autonomy in decision making. We used Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2006, which provided data on ever married women aged 15-49 years (n = 8257). The data consists of women's four types of household decision making; own health care, making major household purchases, making purchase for daily household needs and visits to her family or relatives. A number of socio-demographic variables were used in multivariable logistic regression to examine the relationship of these variables to all four types of decision making. Women's autonomy in decision making is positively associated with their age, employment and number of living children. Women from rural area and Terai region have less autonomy in decision making in all four types of outcome measure. There is a mixed variation in women's autonomy in the development region across all outcome measures. Western women are more likely to make decision in own health care (1.2-1.6), while they are less likely to purchase daily household needs (0.6-0.9). Women's increased education is positively associated with autonomy in own health care decision making (p make decision in own healthcare. Women from rural area and Terai region needs specific empowerment programme to enable them to be more autonomous in the household decision making. Women's autonomy by education, wealth quintile and development region needs a further social science investigation to observe the variations within each stratum. A more comprehensive strategy can enable women to access community resources, to challenge traditional norms and to access economic resources. This will lead the women to be more autonomous in decision making in the due course.

Persistent environmental contamination with USA300 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and other pathogenic strain types in households with S. aureus skin infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Eells, Samantha J; David, Michael Z; Taylor, Alexis; Ortiz, Nancy; Kumar, Neha; Sieth, Julia; Boyle-Vavra, Susan; Daum, Robert S; Miller, Loren G

2014-11-01

To understand the genotypic spectrum of environmental contamination of Staphylococcus aureus in households and its persistence. Prospective longitudinal cohort investigation. Index participants identified at 2 academic medical centers. Adults and children with S. aureus skin infections and their household contacts in Los Angeles and Chicago. Household fomites were surveyed for contamination at baseline and 3 months. All isolates underwent genetic typing. We enrolled 346 households, 88% of which completed the 3-month follow-up visit. S. aureus environmental contamination was 49% at baseline and 51% at 3 months. Among households with a USA300 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) body infection isolate, environmental contamination with an indistinguishable MRSA strain was 58% at baseline and 63% at 3 months. Baseline factors associated with environmental contamination by the index subject's infection isolate were body colonization by any household member with the index subject's infection isolate at baseline (odds ratio [OR], 10.93 [95% confidence interval (CI), 5.75-20.79]), higher housing density (OR, 1.47 [95% CI, 1.10-1.96]), and more frequent household fomite cleaning (OR, 1.62 [95% CI, 1.16-2.27]). Household environmental contamination with the index subject's infection strain at 3 months was associated with USA300 MRSA and a synergistic interaction between baseline environmental contamination and body colonization by any household member with the index subject's infection strain. We found that infecting S. aureus isolates frequently persisted environmentally in households 3 months after skin infection. Presence of pathogenic S. aureus strain type in the environment in a household may represent a persistent reservoir that places household members at risk of future infection.

Petro Rents, Political Institutions, and Hidden Wealth

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Jørgen Juel; Johannesen, Niels; Lassen, David Dreyer

2017-01-01

Do political institutions limit rent seeking by politicians? We study the transformation of petroleum rents, almost universally under direct government control, into hidden wealth using unique data on bank deposits in offshore financial centers that specialize in secrecy and asset protection. Our...... rulers is diverted to secret accounts. We find very limited evidence that shocks to other types of income not directly controlled by governments affect hidden wealth....

Responses to climate and economic risks and opportunities across national and ecological boundaries: changing household strategies on the Mongolian plateau

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Daniel G; Agrawal, Arun; Wang, Jun; Sass, Daniel A; Hua, Jin; Xie, Yichun

2013-01-01

Climate changes on the Mongolian Plateau are creating new challenges for the households and communities of the region. Much of the existing research on household choices in response to climate variability and change focuses on environmental risks and stresses. In contrast, our analysis highlights the importance of taking into account environmental and economic opportunities in explaining household adaptation choices. We surveyed over 750 households arrayed along an ecological gradient and matched across the national border in Mongolia and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, asking what changes in livelihoods strategies households made over the last ten years, and analyzed these choices in two broad categories of options: diversification and livestock management. We combined these data with remotely sensed information about vegetation growth and self-reported exposure to price fluctuations. Our statistical results showed that households experiencing lower ecological and economic variability, higher average levels of vegetation growth, and with greater levels of material wealth, were often those that undertook more actions to improve their conditions in the face of variability. The findings have implications both for how interventions aimed at supporting ongoing choices might be targeted and for theory construction related to social adaptation. (letter)

A community survey of the pattern and determinants of household sources of energy for cooking in rural and urban south western, Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Desalu, Olufemi Olumuyiwa; Ojo, Ololade Olusola; Ariyibi, Ebenezer Kayode; Kolawole, Tolutope Fasanmi; Ogunleye, Ayodele Idowu

2012-01-01

The use of solid fuels for cooking is associated with indoor pollution and lung diseases. The objective of the study was to determine the pattern and determinants of household sources of energy for cooking in rural and urban South Western, Nigeria. We conducted a cross sectional study of households in urban (Ado-Ekiti) and rural (Ido-Ekiti) local council areas from April to July 2010. Female respondents in the households were interviewed by trained interviewers using a semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 670 households participated in the study. Majority of rural dwellers used single source of energy for cooking (55.6%) and urban dwellers used multiple source of energy (57.8%). Solid fuel use (SFU) was higher in rural (29.6%) than in urban areas (21.7%). Kerosene was the most common primary source of energy for cooking in both urban and rural areas (59.0% vs.66.6%) followed by gas (17.8%) and charcoal (6.6%) in the urban areas, and firewood (21.6%) and charcoal (7.1%) in the rural areas. The use of solid fuel was strongly associated with lack of ownership of dwellings and larger household size in urban areas, and lower level of education and lower level of wealth in the rural areas. Kerosene was associated with higher level of husband education and modern housing in urban areas and younger age and indoor cooking in rural areas. Gas was associated with high income and modern housing in the urban areas and high level of wealth in rural areas. Electricity was associated with high level of education, availability of electricity and old age in urban and rural areas respectively. The use of solid fuel is high in rural areas, there is a need to reduce poverty and improve the use of cleaner source of cooking energy particularly in rural areas and improve lung health.

Informed community mobilization for dengue prevention in households with and without a regular water supply: Secondary analysis from the Camino Verde trial in Nicaragua.

Science.gov (United States)

Cárcamo, Alvaro; Arosteguí, Jorge; Coloma, Josefina; Harris, Eva; Ledogar, Robert J; Andersson, Neil

2017-05-30

Studies in different countries have identified irregular water supply as a risk factor for dengue virus transmission. In 2013, Camino Verde, a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Managua, Nicaragua, and Mexico's Guerrero State, demonstrated impact of evidence-based community mobilisation on recent dengue infection and entomological indexes of infestation by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. This secondary analysis of data from the trial impact survey asks: (1) what is the importance of regular water supply in neighbourhoods with and without the trial intervention and (2) can community interventions like Camino Verde reasonably exclude households with adequate water supply? Entomological data collected in the dry season of 2013 in intervention and control communities allow contrasts between households with regular and irregular water supplies. Indicators of entomological risk included the House Index and pupa positive household index. Generalised linear mixed models with cluster as a random effect compared households with and without regular water, and households in intervention and control communities. For the House Index, regular water supply was associated with a protection in both intervention households (OR 0.7, 95%CI 0.6-0.9) and control households (OR 0.6, 95%CI 0.5-0.8). For the pupa positive household index, we found a similar protection from regular water supply in intervention households (OR 0.6, 95%CI 0.4-0.8) and control households (OR 0.7, 95%CI 0.5-0.9). The Camino Verde intervention had a similar impact on House Index in households with regular water supply (OR 0.7, 95%CI 0.5-1.0) and irregular water supply (OR 0.6, 95%CI 0.4-0.8); for the pupa positive household index, the effect of the intervention was very similar in households with regular (OR0.5, 95%CI 0.3-0.8) and irregular (OR 0.5, 95%CI 0.3-0.9) water supply. While Aedes aegypti control efforts based on informed community mobilisation had a strong impact on households without a regular water

Gender differences in pension wealth: estimates using provider data.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, R W; Sambamoorthi, U; Crystal, S

1999-06-01

Information from pension providers was examined to investigate gender differences in pension wealth at midlife. For full-time wage and salary workers approaching retirement age who had pension coverage, median pension wealth on the current job was 76% greater for men than women. Differences in wages, years of job tenure, and industry between men and women accounted for most of the gender gap in pension wealth on the current job. Less than one third of the wealth difference could not be explained by gender differences in education, demographics, or job characteristics. The less-advantaged employment situation of working women currently in midlife carries over into worse retirement income prospects. However, the gender gap in pensions is likely to narrow in the future as married women's employment experiences increasingly resemble those of men.

Inequity of healthcare utilization on mammography examination and Pap smear screening in Thailand: Analysis of a population-based household survey.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sukanya Chongthawonsatid

Full Text Available Healthcare in Thailand is not equally distributed, and not all people can equally access healthcare resources even if they are covered by health insurance. To examine factors associated with the utilization of mammography examination for breast cancer and Pap smear screening for cervical cancer, data from the national reproductive health survey conducted by the National Statistical Office of Thailand in 2009 was examined. The survey was carried out on 15,074,126 women aged 30-59 years. The results showed that the wealthier respondents had more mammograms than did the lower-income groups. The concentration index was 0.144. The data on Pap smears for cervical cancer also showed that the wealthier respondents were more likely to have had a Pap smear than their lower-income counterparts. The concentration index was 0.054. Determinants of mammography examination were education, followed by health welfare and wealth index, whereas the determinants of Pap smear screening were wealth index, followed by health welfare and education. The government should support greater education for women because education was associated with socioeconomic status and wealth. There should be an increase in the number of screening campaigns, mobile clinics, and low-cost mammograms and continued support for accessibility to mammograms, especially in rural areas and low-income communities.

HIV infection does not disproportionately affect the poorer in sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, Vinod; Assche, Simona Bignami-Van; Greener, Robert; Vaessen, Martin; Hong, Rathavuth; Ghys, Peter D; Boerma, J Ties; Van Assche, Ari; Khan, Shane; Rutstein, Shea

2007-11-01

Wealthier populations do better than poorer ones on most measures of health status, including nutrition, morbidity and mortality, and healthcare utilization. This study examines the association between household wealth status and HIV serostatus to identify what characteristics and behaviours are associated with HIV infection, and the role of confounding factors such as place of residence and other risk factors. Data are from eight national surveys in sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Tanzania, Lesotho, Malawi, and Uganda) conducted during 2003-2005. Dried blood spot samples were collected and tested for HIV, following internationally accepted ethical standards and laboratory procedures. The association between household wealth (measured by an index based on household ownership of durable assets and other amenities) and HIV serostatus is examined using both descriptive and multivariate statistical methods. In all eight countries, adults in the wealthiest quintiles have a higher prevalence of HIV than those in the poorer quintiles. Prevalence increases monotonically with wealth in most cases. Similarly for cohabiting couples, the likelihood that one or both partners is HIV infected increases with wealth. The positive association between wealth and HIV prevalence is only partly explained by an association of wealth with other underlying factors, such as place of residence and education, and by differences in sexual behaviour, such as multiple sex partners, condom use, and male circumcision. In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV prevalence does not exhibit the same pattern of association with poverty as most other diseases. HIV programmes should also focus on the wealthier segments of the population.

Diagnosis of Farmers' Conditions Using Wealth Ranking Approach- A Case study of North Rift

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wanyama, J.M.

2002-01-01

characterization of farming systems based on resources endowment was done in five districts of north rift in 1997/1999. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select districts, divisions and villages. The villages were randomly selected from each administrative agricultural division in 15 major agro- ecological zones. Key informants, who were mainly village elders, were the respondents. A total of 360 respondents were interviewed during the survey. The households were grouped into high, average and low resource groups based on key indicators of wealth status. These were: farm size, off-farm employment, number of livestock, use of external purchasable inputs, use and ownership of farm machinery. There were distinct similarities and differences in farm types based and major producer of agricultural products. Therefore these categories of farmers form favourable target groups for technology for perceptible impact on increased crop and livestock productivity

Determinants of intra-household food allocation between adults in South Asia - a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris-Fry, Helen; Shrestha, Niva; Costello, Anthony; Saville, Naomi M

2017-06-21

Nutrition interventions, often delivered at the household level, could increase their efficiency by channelling resources towards pregnant or lactating women, instead of leaving resources to be disproportionately allocated to traditionally favoured men. However, understanding of how to design targeted nutrition programs is limited by a lack of understanding of the factors affecting the intra-household allocation of food. We systematically reviewed literature on the factors affecting the allocation of food to adults in South Asian households (in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) and developed a framework of food allocation determinants. Two reviewers independently searched and filtered results from PubMed, Web of Knowledge and Scopus databases by using pre-defined search terms and hand-searching the references from selected papers. Determinants were extracted, categorised into a framework, and narratively described. We used adapted Downs and Black and Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklists to assess the quality of evidence. Out of 6928 retrieved studies we found 60 relevant results. Recent, high quality evidence was limited and mainly from Bangladesh, India and Nepal. There were no results from Iran, Afghanistan, Maldives, or Bhutan. At the intra-household level, food allocation was determined by relative differences in household members' income, bargaining power, food behaviours, social status, tastes and preferences, and interpersonal relationships. Household-level determinants included wealth, food security, occupation, land ownership, household size, religion / ethnicity / caste, education, and nutrition knowledge. In general, the highest inequity occurred in households experiencing severe or unexpected food insecurity, and also in better-off, high caste households, whereas poorer, low caste but not severely food insecure households were more equitable. Food allocation also varied

Wealth & Immigration in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dreyer, Johannes Kabderian; Wolffsen, Poul; Mortensen, Mia

2014-01-01

Applying newly developed methods this paper quantifies human capital in Denmark and analyzes highly qualified immigration as a potential source of wealth generation. In order to quantify human capital, we use the methodology of Lettau and Ludvigson (2001, 2004), Zhang (2006) and Dreyer et al. (2013...

Evaluation of the national wealth in the context of international practices

OpenAIRE

I. Bobuh

2011-01-01

The practices of economic evaluation of a nation's wealth in the foreign countries and in Ukraine are reviewed in the article. The ways to improve methodological approaches to the evaluation of the national wealth are ex-plained. The author laid out the arguments proving the need to apply an empirical matrix of economic evaluation of the national wealth on the basis of the two-level model. The latter treats the national wealth as consisting of national capital and non-capitalized resources.

Individual and household factors associated with ownership of long-lasting insecticidal nets and malaria infection in south-central Ethiopia: a case-control study.

Science.gov (United States)

Deressa, Wakgari

2017-10-06

A recent considerable decline in malaria morbidity and mortality in Ethiopia is likely to be followed by changes in the practice of effective preventive measures and malaria risk factors. This study aimed to identify determinants of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) ownership and risk of malaria infection. A matched case-control study of 191 case and 377 control households was conducted between October 2014 and November 2015 in Adami Tullu district in south-central Ethiopia. Cases were microscopy or rapid diagnostic test confirmed malaria patients identified at three health centers and nine health posts, and matched on age with two neighbourhood controls. Information was collected on socio-demographic factors, house structure, knowledge on malaria and ownership of LLINs. The logistic regression model was used to determine predictors of LLINs ownership and malaria infection. All cases were infections due to either Plasmodium falciparum (71.2%) or Plasmodium vivax (28.8%). About 31% of the study households had at least one LLINs. Significant determinants of LLINs ownership were household's head malaria knowledge [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.44-4.22], educational status [read and write (AOR = 6.88, 95% CI 2.30-20.55), primary education or higher (AOR = 5.40, 95% CI 1.57-18.55)], farmer respondent (AOR = 0.35, 95% CI 0.17-0.76), having ≥ 3 sleeping areas (AOR = 6.71, 95% CI 2.40-18.77) and corrugated roof type (AOR = 2.49, 95% CI 1.36-4.58). This study was unable to identify important risk factors of malaria infection with regard to sex, household wealth index, house structure, ownership of LLINs, keeping livestock inside house, staying overnight outdoor or having malaria during the last 6 months. Household socio-economic status, educational status and knowledge on malaria were important predictors of LLINs ownership. Households with farmer respondents were less likely to own LLINs. Addressing these factors

When imagining future wealth influences risky decision making

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Adam Eric Greenberg

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The body of literature on the relationship between risk aversion and wealth is extensive. However, little attention has been given to examining how future realizations of wealth might affect (current risk decisions. Using paired lottery choice experiments and exposing subjects experimentally to imagined future wealth frames, I find that individuals are more risk-seeking if they are asked to imagine that they will be wealthy in the future. Yet I find that individuals are not significantly more risk-averse if they are asked to imagine that they will be poor in the future. I discuss theoretical and policy implications of these findings, including why savings rates are so low in the United States.

Wealth and Inequality in the Stability of Romantic Relationships

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Alicia Eads

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The family is a key institution that transmits inequality, and racial and socioeconomic inequalities in family life have grown markedly. We use data from the 1996 to 2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to offer a comprehensive account of how wealth relates to family stability and how that relationship varies by union type, age cohort, and both type and amount of wealth. We find that liquid and illiquid assets and secured debts are associated with a decrease in the likelihood of dissolution, and that large unsecured debts are associated with an increase. These associations do not differ significantly for married and cohabiting couples. We find evidence of both the material and the symbolic importance of wealth for stability. We also find that wealth explains a significant degree of the racial inequality in family stability.

Macroeconomic Considerations and Motives of Sovereign Wealth Funds Activity

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Dariusz Urban

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Sovereign wealth funds are entities regarded as an institutional innovation in the international financial market. Due to the nature of the ownership rights, the investment activity of such entities is still highly controversial. Objections against sovereign wealth funds included the alleged extraeconomic goals of their activity. This article attempts to show that the establishment development and operation of sovereign wealth funds are determined by economic factors. The study presents a description of the international monetary system and the motives for building foreign exchange reserves by countries. It has been evidenced on the basis of the most recent data that some countries have reserves considerably exceeding the level regarded as optimal for the economy. The article presents benefits for the economy from the use of sovereign wealth funds to manage excessive foreign exchange reserves.

The Impact of International Remittance on Poverty, Household ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

remittances poverty head count index, poverty gap and squared poverty gap declined by .... salary/wage income and hence there is no difference on how households ..... age, education, gender and marital status are important variables in this.

Climate policies under wealth inequality.

Science.gov (United States)

Vasconcelos, Vítor V; Santos, Francisco C; Pacheco, Jorge M; Levin, Simon A

2014-02-11

Taming the planet's climate requires cooperation. Previous failures to reach consensus in climate summits have been attributed, among other factors, to conflicting policies between rich and poor countries, which disagree on the implementation of mitigation measures. Here we implement wealth inequality in a threshold public goods dilemma of cooperation in which players also face the risk of potential future losses. We consider a population exhibiting an asymmetric distribution of rich and poor players that reflects the present-day status of nations and study the behavioral interplay between rich and poor in time, regarding their willingness to cooperate. Individuals are also allowed to exhibit a variable degree of homophily, which acts to limit those that constitute one's sphere of influence. Under the premises of our model, and in the absence of homophily, comparison between scenarios with wealth inequality and without wealth inequality shows that the former leads to more global cooperation than the latter. Furthermore, we find that the rich generally contribute more than the poor and will often compensate for the lower contribution of the latter. Contributions from the poor, which are crucial to overcome the climate change dilemma, are shown to be very sensitive to homophily, which, if prevalent, can lead to a collapse of their overall contribution. In such cases, however, we also find that obstinate cooperative behavior by a few poor may largely compensate for homophilic behavior.

The future of personal wealth and inheritance taxation in Norway

OpenAIRE

Pekala, Maciek

2013-01-01

Many countries have recently abandoned or experienced significant reduction in tax rates and revenues from personal wealth and inheritance taxation. Today, Norway remains one of the few countries that still tax annual wealth and intergenerational wealth transfers. Both taxes however face a substantial opposition and their future remains uncertain. In this paper, a dynamic microsimulation model MOSART developed by Statistics Norway is used to project and discuss future revenues and distributio...

Towards universal health coverage: the role of within-country wealth-related inequality in 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza; Victora, Cesar G; Bergen, Nicole; Barros, Aluisio J D; Boerma, Ties

2011-12-01

To measure within-country wealth-related inequality in the health service coverage gap of maternal and child health indicators in sub-Saharan Africa and quantify its contribution to the national health service coverage gap. Coverage data for child and maternal health services in 28 sub-Saharan African countries were obtained from the 2000-2008 Demographic Health Survey. For each country, the national coverage gap was determined for an overall health service coverage index and select individual health service indicators. The data were then additively broken down into the coverage gap in the wealthiest quintile (i.e. the proportion of the quintile lacking a required health service) and the population attributable risk (an absolute measure of within-country wealth-related inequality). In 26 countries, within-country wealth-related inequality accounted for more than one quarter of the national overall coverage gap. Reducing such inequality could lower this gap by 16% to 56%, depending on the country. Regarding select individual health service indicators, wealth-related inequality was more common in services such as skilled birth attendance and antenatal care, and less so in family planning, measles immunization, receipt of a third dose of vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus and treatment of acute respiratory infections in children under 5 years of age. The contribution of wealth-related inequality to the child and maternal health service coverage gap differs by country and type of health service, warranting case-specific interventions. Targeted policies are most appropriate where high within-country wealth-related inequality exists, and whole-population approaches, where the health-service coverage gap is high in all quintiles.

Long-term effects of wealth on mortality and self-rated health status.

Science.gov (United States)

Hajat, Anjum; Kaufman, Jay S; Rose, Kathryn M; Siddiqi, Arjumand; Thomas, James C

2011-01-15

Epidemiologic studies seldom include wealth as a component of socioeconomic status. The authors investigated the associations between wealth and 2 broad outcome measures: mortality and self-rated general health status. Data from the longitudinal Panel Study of Income Dynamics, collected in a US population between 1984 and 2005, were used to fit marginal structural models and to estimate relative and absolute measures of effect. Wealth was specified as a 6-category variable: those with ≤0 wealth and quintiles of positive wealth. There were a 16%-44% higher risk and 6-18 excess cases of poor/fair health (per 1,000 persons) among the less wealthy relative to the wealthiest quintile. Less wealthy men, women, and whites had higher risk of poor/fair health relative to their wealthy counterparts. The overall wealth-mortality association revealed a 62% increased risk and 4 excess deaths (per 1,000 persons) among the least wealthy. Less wealthy women had between a 24% and a 90% higher risk of death, and the least wealthy men had 6 excess deaths compared with the wealthiest quintile. Overall, there was a strong inverse association between wealth and poor health status and between wealth and mortality.

EVA measure and ability of the firm to create shareholder wealth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela Chmelíková

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is devoted to the possibilities of Economic Value Added index usage in the conditions of Czech food-processing industry and is trying to provide independent empirical evidence on the indicator’s qualities. The EVA proponents attach to it a superiority compared to other common performance measures. The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between Economic Value Added, traditional performance measures (ROA and ROE and ability of creation of shareholder wealth for food-processing firms in the Czech Republic. The way of intended comparison is not dissimilar to the main world studies, which are quoted in this paper. A critical point of the EVA’s application in the conditions of Czech economy is a lack of good quality information from capital market, which at the same time, serve as an exogenous criterion for assessing the quality of the examined measures in the mentioned studies. In the absence of quality capital market information, a criterion for assessing the information content of performance measures suitable for conditions of Czech economy is developed in this paper. This also shows how to circumvent the handicap of the available data.The intent of this article is fulfilled by providing a simple regression test of the hypothesis, that the EVA measure is more associated with improved shareholder wealth than traditional performance measures ROA and ROE. The results of regression analysis show higher quality information content of EVA indicator in the relationship to the ability of shareholder wealth creation than traditional performance measures. This fact supports the tested hypothesis as well as the conclusions of corporate finance theory, that from the theoretical point of view EVA is seen as a superior performance metric.

Nutritional Status and Tuberculosis Risk in Adult and Pediatric Household Contacts.

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Omowunmi Aibana

Full Text Available Studies show obesity decreases risk of tuberculosis (TB disease. There is limited evidence on whether high body mass index also protects against TB infection; how very high body mass indices influence TB risk; or whether nutritional status predicts this risk in children. We assessed the impact of body mass index on incident TB infection and disease among adults and children.We conducted a prospective cohort study among household contacts of pulmonary TB cases in Lima, Peru. We determined body mass index at baseline and followed participants for one year for TB infection and disease. We used Cox proportional regression analyses to estimate hazard ratios for incident TB infection and disease. We enrolled 14,044 household contacts, and among 6853 negative for TB infection and disease at baseline, 1787 (26.1% became infected. A total of 406 contacts developed secondary TB disease during follow-up. Body mass index did not predict risk of TB infection but overweight household contacts had significantly decreased risk of TB disease (HR 0.48; 95% CI 0.37-0.64; p <0.001 compared to those with normal weight. Among adults, body mass index ≥ 35 kg/m2 continued to predict a lower risk of TB disease (HR 0.30; 95% CI 0.12-0.74; p 0.009. We found no association between high body mass index and TB infection or disease among children under 12 years of age.High body mass index protects adults against TB disease even at levels ≥ 35 kg/m2. This protective effect does not extend to TB infection and is not seen in children.

Nutritional Status and Tuberculosis Risk in Adult and Pediatric Household Contacts.

Science.gov (United States)

Aibana, Omowunmi; Acharya, Xeno; Huang, Chuan-Chin; Becerra, Mercedes C; Galea, Jerome T; Chiang, Silvia S; Contreras, Carmen; Calderon, Roger; Yataco, Rosa; Velásquez, Gustavo E; Tintaya, Karen; Jimenez, Judith; Lecca, Leonid; Murray, Megan B

2016-01-01

Studies show obesity decreases risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease. There is limited evidence on whether high body mass index also protects against TB infection; how very high body mass indices influence TB risk; or whether nutritional status predicts this risk in children. We assessed the impact of body mass index on incident TB infection and disease among adults and children. We conducted a prospective cohort study among household contacts of pulmonary TB cases in Lima, Peru. We determined body mass index at baseline and followed participants for one year for TB infection and disease. We used Cox proportional regression analyses to estimate hazard ratios for incident TB infection and disease. We enrolled 14,044 household contacts, and among 6853 negative for TB infection and disease at baseline, 1787 (26.1%) became infected. A total of 406 contacts developed secondary TB disease during follow-up. Body mass index did not predict risk of TB infection but overweight household contacts had significantly decreased risk of TB disease (HR 0.48; 95% CI 0.37-0.64; p <0.001) compared to those with normal weight. Among adults, body mass index ≥ 35 kg/m2 continued to predict a lower risk of TB disease (HR 0.30; 95% CI 0.12-0.74; p 0.009). We found no association between high body mass index and TB infection or disease among children under 12 years of age. High body mass index protects adults against TB disease even at levels ≥ 35 kg/m2. This protective effect does not extend to TB infection and is not seen in children.

Accounting for the multidimensional nature of the relationship between adult obesity and socio-economic status: the French second National Individual Survey on Food Consumption (INCA 2) dietary survey (2006-07).

Science.gov (United States)

Fillol, F; Dubuisson, C; Lafay, L; Dufour, A; Bertin, M; Touvier, M; Maire, B; Volatier, J-L; Lioret, S

2011-11-01

The objective was to study the multidimensional nature of the relationship between adult obesity (OB) and socio-economic status (SES), using comprehensive indices of SES taken separately or synthesised in an overall index. A nationally representative sample of adults aged 18-79 years was taken from the French second National Individual Survey on Food Consumption (INCA 2) dietary survey (2006-07). Weight and height were measured and OB defined as BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2. SES variables were reported in questionnaires and included occupation, education and characteristics of household wealth. Composite indices of SES (household wealth and overall SES indices) were computed by correspondence analysis, and relationships with OB were investigated with logistic regression analysis. In total, 11·8 (95 % CI 10·1, 13·4) % of French adults were obese, without significant difference by sex. While no significant relationship was observed in men, all SES indicators were inversely correlated to OB in women. Both education and the household wealth index were retained in the stepwise multivariate model, confirming that different socio-economic variables are not necessarily proxies of each other regarding the OB issue. On the other hand, 'controlling for SES' while including several measures of SES in multivariate models may lead to collinearity, and thus over-adjustment. A more integrative approach may be to derive a synthetic index by including the SES factors available in a given study. Beyond this methodological perspective, understanding how OB is related to the different dimensions of SES should help to target the more vulnerable groups and increase the effectiveness of prevention.

Factors associated with household transmission of pandemic (H1N1 2009 among self-quarantined patients in Beijing, China.

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Daitao Zhang

Full Text Available As the pandemic (H1N1 2009 progressed, the Ministry of Health of China advised cases with mild symptoms to remain home for isolation and observation, which may have increased the risk for infection among other household members. Describing the transmission characteristics of this novel virus is indispensable to effectively controlling the spread of disease; thus, the aim of this study was to assess risk factors associated with household transmission of pandemic H1N1 from self-quarantined patients in Beijing, the capital city of China. A 1:2 case-control study with 54 case households and 108 control households was conducted between August 1 and September 30, 2009 in Beijing. Cases were households with a self-quarantined index patient and a secondary case, while controls were households with a self-quarantined index patient and a close contact. Controls were also matched to cases for sex and age of index case-patient. A structured interview guide was used to collect the data. Conditional logistical models were employed to estimate Odds Ratios (OR with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI. Results indicated that higher education level (OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.22-0.83, sharing room with an index case-patient (OR 3.29; 95%CI 1.23-8.78, daily room ventilation (OR 0.28; 95%CI 0.08-0.93, and hand washing ≥ 3/d (OR 0.71; 95%CI 0.48-0.94 were related to the household transmission of pandemic H1N1 from self-quarantined patients. These results highlight that health education, as well as the quarantine of the index case-patient immediately after infection, frequent hand hygiene, and ventilation are critical to mitigating household spread of pandemic H1N1 virus and minimizing its impact. Household contacts should be educated to promote these in-home practices to contain transmission, particularly when household members are quarantined at home.

Inequality measures for wealth distribution: Population vs individuals perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Pascoal, R.; Rocha, H.

2018-02-01

Economic inequality is, nowadays, frequently perceived as following a growing trend with impact on political and religious agendas. However, there is a wide range of inequality measures, each of which pointing to a possibly different degree of inequality. Furthermore, regardless of the measure used, it only acknowledges the momentary population inequality, failing to capture the individuals evolution over time. In this paper, several inequality measures were analyzed in order to compare the typical single time instant degree of wealth inequality (population perspective) to the one obtained from the individuals' wealth mean over several time instants (individuals perspective). The proposed generalization of a simple addictive model, for limited time average of individual's wealth, allows us to verify that the typically used inequality measures for a given snapshot instant of the population significantly overestimate the individuals' wealth inequality over time. Moreover, that is more extreme for the ratios than for the indices analyzed.

Informed community mobilization for dengue prevention in households with and without a regular water supply: Secondary analysis from the Camino Verde trial in Nicaragua

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Alvaro Cárcamo

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Studies in different countries have identified irregular water supply as a risk factor for dengue virus transmission. In 2013, Camino Verde, a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Managua, Nicaragua, and Mexico’s Guerrero State, demonstrated impact of evidence-based community mobilisation on recent dengue infection and entomological indexes of infestation by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. This secondary analysis of data from the trial impact survey asks: (1 what is the importance of regular water supply in neighbourhoods with and without the trial intervention and (2 can community interventions like Camino Verde reasonably exclude households with adequate water supply? Methods Entomological data collected in the dry season of 2013 in intervention and control communities allow contrasts between households with regular and irregular water supplies. Indicators of entomological risk included the House Index and pupa positive household index. Generalised linear mixed models with cluster as a random effect compared households with and without regular water, and households in intervention and control communities. Results For the House Index, regular water supply was associated with a protection in both intervention households (OR 0.7, 95%CI 0.6–0.9 and control households (OR 0.6, 95%CI 0.5–0.8. For the pupa positive household index, we found a similar protection from regular water supply in intervention households (OR 0.6, 95%CI 0.4–0.8 and control households (OR 0.7, 95%CI 0.5–0.9. The Camino Verde intervention had a similar impact on House Index in households with regular water supply (OR 0.7, 95%CI 0.5–1.0 and irregular water supply (OR 0.6, 95%CI 0.4–0.8; for the pupa positive household index, the effect of the intervention was very similar in households with regular (OR0.5, 95%CI 0.3–0.8 and irregular (OR 0.5, 95%CI 0.3–0.9 water supply. Conclusion While Aedes aegypti control efforts based on informed community

Age Moderates the Relationship Between Generativity Concern and Understanding of Wealth.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Tianyuan; Tsang, Vivian Hiu-Ling

2016-01-01

Wealth can be considered as resource to promote either public welfare (i.e. through altruistic understanding) or personal well-being (i.e. through egoistic understanding). How people understand wealth can influence the distribution of valuable materialistic resources within a society. The current study examined how generativity concern, the concern for next generation and social welfare in the future, influenced people's understanding of wealth and whether age moderated the relationship. A total of 133 participants ranging from 18 to 78 years old were interviewed with four open-ended questions regarding their understanding of wealth. Their generativity concern and demographical information were also recorded. Findings showed that generativity concern was related to a less egoistic and more altruistic understanding of wealth. Moreover, the effect of generativity concern was especially salient for younger adults, but not significant for older adults. The results suggest that generativity concern is a construct that applies to both young and older adults. It can even be more influential to young adults' cognitive conceptualization in certain aspects (e.g., understanding of wealth) than that of older adults. Future studies can further investigate the general impact of generativity concern as well as the behavioral consequences of people's understanding of wealth. The results were also discussed in the context of lifelong learning.

Avian influenza H5N1 transmission in households, Indonesia.

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Tjandra Y Aditama

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Disease transmission patterns are needed to inform public health interventions, but remain largely unknown for avian influenza H5N1 virus infections. A recent study on the 139 outbreaks detected in Indonesia between 2005 and 2009 found that the type of exposure to sources of H5N1 virus for both the index case and their household members impacted the risk of additional cases in the household. This study describes the disease transmission patterns in those outbreak households. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We compared cases (n = 177 and contacts (n = 496 in the 113 sporadic and 26 cluster outbreaks detected between July 2005 and July 2009 to estimate attack rates and disease intervals. We used final size household models to fit transmission parameters to data on household size, cases and blood-related household contacts to assess the relative contribution of zoonotic and human-to-human transmission of the virus, as well as the reproduction number for human virus transmission. The overall household attack rate was 18.3% and secondary attack rate was 5.5%. Secondary attack rate remained stable as household size increased. The mean interval between onset of subsequent cases in outbreaks was 5.6 days. The transmission model found that human transmission was very rare, with a reproduction number between 0.1 and 0.25, and the upper confidence bounds below 0.4. Transmission model fit was best when the denominator population was restricted to blood-related household contacts of index cases. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The study only found strong support for human transmission of the virus when a single large cluster was included in the transmission model. The reproduction number was well below the threshold for sustained transmission. This study provides baseline information on the transmission dynamics for the current zoonotic virus and can be used to detect and define signatures of a virus with increasing capacity for human

Does wealth inequality matter for growth? The effect of billionaire wealth, income distribution, and poverty

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bagchi, S.; Švejnar, Jan

2015-01-01

Roč. 43, č. 3 (2015), s. 505-530 ISSN 0147-5967 Institutional support: PRVOUK-P23 Keywords : economic growth * wealth inequality * income inequality Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 1.380, year: 2015

Household food insecurity, diet quality, and weight status among indigenous women (Mah Meri) in Peninsular Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Pei, Chong Su; Appannah, Geeta; Sulaiman, Norhasmah

2018-04-01

This cross-sectional study assessed household food security status and determined its association with diet quality and weight status among indigenous women from the Mah Meri tribe in Peninsular Malaysia. The Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity Instrument and the Malaysian Healthy Eating Index (HEI) were used to assess household food security status and diet quality, respectively. Information on socio-demographic characteristics and 24-hour dietary recall data were collected through face-to-face interview, and anthropometric measurements including weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) were obtained from 222 women. Majority of households (82.9%) experienced different levels of food insecurity: 29.3% household food insecurity, 23.4% individual food insecurity, and 30.2% fell into the child hunger group. The food-secure group had significantly fewer children and smaller household sizes than the food-insecure groups ( P diet, while food insecurity at the household level was associated with higher body weight. Therefore, a substantial effort by all stakeholders is warranted to improve food insecurity among poorer households. The results suggest a pressing need for nutritional interventions to improve dietary intake among low income households.

Property and wealth inequality as cultural niche construction.

Science.gov (United States)

Shennan, Stephen

2011-03-27

In contrast to other approaches, evolutionary perspectives on understanding the power and wealth inequalities in human societies view wealth and power not as ends in themselves but as proximate goals that contribute to the ultimate Darwinian goal of achieving reproductive success. The most successful means of achieving it in specific times and places depend on local conditions and these have changed in the course of human history, to such an extent that strategies focused on the maintenance and increase of wealth can even be more successful in reproductive terms than strategies directed at maximizing reproductive success in the short term. This paper argues that a major factor leading to such changes is a shift in the nature of inter-generational wealth transfers from relatively intangible to material property resources and the opportunities these provided for massively increased inequality. This shift can be seen as a process of niche construction related to the increasing importance of fixed and defensible resources in many societies after the end of the last Ice Age. It is suggested that, despite problems of inference, the evidence of the archaeological record can be used to throw light on these processes in specific places and times.

Modeling the Origin and Possible Control of the Wealth Inequality Surge.

Science.gov (United States)

Berman, Yonatan; Shapira, Yoash; Ben-Jacob, Eshel

2015-01-01

The rapid increase of wealth inequality in the past few decades is a most disturbing social and economic issue of our time. In order to control, and even reverse that surge, its origin and underlying mechanisms should be revealed. One of the challenges in studying these mechanisms is to incorporate realistic individual dynamics in the population level in a self-consistent manner. Our theoretical approach meets the challenge by using interacting multi-agent master-equations to model the dynamics of wealth inequality. The model is solved using stochastic multi-agent iterated maps. Taking into account growth rate, return on capital, private savings and economic mobility, we were able to capture the historical dynamics of wealth inequality in the United States during the course of the 20th century. We show that the fraction of capital income in the national income and the fraction of private savings are the critical factors that govern the wealth inequality dynamics. In addition, we found that economic mobility plays a crucial role in wealth accumulation. Notably, we found that the major decrease in private savings since the 1980s could be associated primarily with the recent surge in wealth inequality and if nothing changes in this respect we predict further increase in wealth inequality in the future. However, the 2007-08 financial crisis brought an opportunity to restrain the wealth inequality surge by increasing private savings. If this trend continues, it may lead to prevention, and even reversing, of the ongoing inequality surge.

The taxation of wealth transfers in Thailand

OpenAIRE

Rodthong, Ratichai

2016-01-01

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London This thesis examines the case for a wealth transfer tax in Thailand, against the background, inter alia, of the failure of Thailand’s defunct tax law on estate and inheritance (the Estate and Inheritance Tax Act, 1933). Thailand has a significant problem with income and wealth distribution, with an increasing gulf between the rich and the poor—a root cause of the nation’s ongoing pol...

Socioeconomic inequality in disability among adults: a multicountry study using the World Health Survey.

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Hosseinpoor, Ahmad R; Stewart Williams, Jennifer A; Gautam, Jeny; Posarac, Aleksandra; Officer, Alana; Verdes, Emese; Kostanjsek, Nenad; Chatterji, Somnath

2013-07-01

We compared national prevalence and wealth-related inequality in disability across a large number of countries from all income groups. Data on 218,737 respondents participating in the World Health Survey 2002-2004 were analyzed. A composite disability score (0-100) identified respondents who experienced significant disability in physical, mental, and social functioning irrespective of their underlying health condition. Disabled persons had disability composite scores above 40. Wealth was evaluated using an index of economic status in households based on ownership of selected assets. Socioeconomic inequalities were measured using the slope index of inequality and the relative index of inequality. Median age-standardized disability prevalence was higher in the low- and lower middle-income countries. In all the study countries, disability was more prevalent in the poorest than in the richest wealth quintiles. Pro-rich inequality was statistically significant in 43 of 49 countries, with disability prevalence higher among populations with lower wealth. Median relative inequality was higher in the high- and upper middle-income countries. Integrating equity components into the monitoring of disability trends would help ensure that interventions reach and benefit populations with greatest need.

Do the wealthy have a health advantage? Cardiovascular disease risk factors and wealth.

Science.gov (United States)

Hajat, A; Kaufman, J S; Rose, K M; Siddiqi, A; Thomas, J C

2010-12-01

The use of wealth as a measure of socioeconomic status (SES) remains uncommon in epidemiological studies. When used, wealth is often measured crudely and at a single point in time. Our study explores the relationship between wealth and three cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors (smoking, obesity and hypertension) in a US population. We improve upon existing literature by using a detailed and validated measure of wealth in a longitudinal setting. We used four waves of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) collected between 1999 and 2005. Inverse probability weights were employed to control for time-varying confounding and to estimate both relative (risk ratio) and absolute (risk difference) measures of effect. Wealth was defined as inflation-adjusted net worth and specified as a six category variable: one category for those with less than or equal to zero wealth and quintiles of positive wealth. After adjusting for income and other time-varying confounders, as well as baseline covariates, the risk of becoming obese was inversely related to wealth. There was a 40%-89% higher risk of becoming obese among the less wealthy relative to the wealthiest quintile and 11 to 25 excess cases (per 1000 persons) among the less wealthy groups over six years of follow up. Smoking initiation had similar but more moderate effects; risk ratios and differences both revealed a smaller magnitude of effect compared to obesity. Of the three CVD risk factors examined here, hypertension incidence had the weakest association with wealth, showing a smaller increased risk and fewer excess cases among the less wealthy groups. In conclusion, this study found a strong inverse association between wealth and obesity incidence, a moderate inverse association between wealth and smoking initiation and a weak inverse association between wealth and hypertension incidence after controlling for income and other time-varying confounders. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The use of income information of census enumeration area as a proxy for the household income in a household survey.

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Gomes, Fabio S; Vasconcellos, Mauricio Tl; Anjos, Luiz A

2009-09-22

Some of the Census Enumeration Areas' (CEA) information may help planning the sample of population studies but it can also be used for some analyses that require information that is more difficult to obtain at the individual or household level, such as income. This paper verifies if the income information of CEA can be used as a proxy for household income in a household survey. A population-based survey conducted from January to December 2003 obtained data from a probabilistic sample of 1,734 households of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Uniform semi-association models were adjusted in order to obtain information about the agreement/disagreement structure of data. The distribution of nutritional status categories of the population of Niterói according to income quintiles was performed using both CEA- and household-level income measures and then compared using Wald statistics for homogeneity. Body mass index was calculated using body mass and stature data measured in the households and then used to define nutritional status categories according to the World Health Organization. All estimates and statistics were calculated accounting for the structural information of the sample design and a significance level lower than 5% was adopted. The classification of households in the quintiles of household income was associated with the classification of these households in the quintiles of CEA income. The distribution of the nutritional status categories in all income quintiles did not differ significantly according to the source of income information (household or CEA) used in the definition of quintiles. The structure of agreement/disagreement between quintiles of the household's monthly per capita income and quintiles of the head-of-household's mean nominal monthly income of the CEA, as well as the results produced by these measures when they were associated with the nutritional status of the population, showed that the CEA's income information can be used when income

The use of income information of census enumeration area as a proxy for the household income in a household survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasconcellos Mauricio TL

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Some of the Census Enumeration Areas' (CEA information may help planning the sample of population studies but it can also be used for some analyses that require information that is more difficult to obtain at the individual or household level, such as income. This paper verifies if the income information of CEA can be used as a proxy for household income in a household survey. Methods A population-based survey conducted from January to December 2003 obtained data from a probabilistic sample of 1,734 households of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Uniform semi-association models were adjusted in order to obtain information about the agreement/disagreement structure of data. The distribution of nutritional status categories of the population of Niterói according to income quintiles was performed using both CEA- and household-level income measures and then compared using Wald statistics for homogeneity. Body mass index was calculated using body mass and stature data measured in the households and then used to define nutritional status categories according to the World Health Organization. All estimates and statistics were calculated accounting for the structural information of the sample design and a significance level lower than 5% was adopted. Results The classification of households in the quintiles of household income was associated with the classification of these households in the quintiles of CEA income. The distribution of the nutritional status categories in all income quintiles did not differ significantly according to the source of income information (household or CEA used in the definition of quintiles. Conclusion The structure of agreement/disagreement between quintiles of the household's monthly per capita income and quintiles of the head-of-household's mean nominal monthly income of the CEA, as well as the results produced by these measures when they were associated with the nutritional status of the population

Housing wealth and US money demand : A panel estimation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arnold, I.J.M.; Roelands, S.

2011-01-01

This article estimates a panel model for U.S. money demand using annual state-level data for the period from 1977 to 2008. We incorporate housing wealth in the demand-for-money function and find strong evidence of a relationship between a broad monetary aggregate and housing wealth. This finding is

Factors associated with child hunger among food insecure households in Bangladesh.

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Haque, Md Ahshanul; Farzana, Fahmida Dil; Sultana, Sabiha; Raihan, Mohammad Jyoti; Rahman, Ahmed Shafiqur; Waid, Jillian L; Choudhury, Nuzhat; Ahmed, Tahmeed

2017-02-16

Hunger is associated with food insecurity at the household level and is considered as a global public health problem with long term adverse consequences on children's health. This study aims to determine the factors associated with child hunger from a nationally representative sample in Bangladesh among food insecure households. Data was derived from the Food Security and Nutritional Surveillance Project; 14,712 children aged 6-59 months belonging to food insecure households contributed to the analysis. Information on food security at the household level was collected for 30 days preceding the survey. Descriptive statistics served to illustrate the variables studied and multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the significant risk factors for child hunger. Overall 10% of the children were found to be hungry. After adjusting for seasonality, residence type and education level of household head, the variables - female headed households [OR: 1.87 (1.43-2.45); p hunger. Out of the potential risk factors examined, our study found significant and independent association of five variables with child hunger: sex of the household head, household food insecurity status, educational status of household women and asset index. Despite all sampled household being food insecure, degree of household food insecurity status appeared to be the strongest predictor of child hunger.

Elements of Property Wealth and Educational Expenditures in Illinois.

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Lows, Raymond L.; Ho, Fanny

This study examines the relationships between various elements of property wealth and operating expenditures per pupil by types of school district--elementary (K-8), high (9-12), and unit (K-12). Elements of property wealth were defined as the equalized assessed valuation per pupil for each of the following property tax classifications:…

Household Income Composition and Household Goods

OpenAIRE

Voynov, Ivan

2005-01-01

The paper focuses on the change in household income composition and the factors that determine it. The results bring additional knowledge about household poverty dynamics. Based on the collective approach to the family and the cooperative game theory it is constructed theoretical model of household income composition change. The change in income composition is a result from bargaining between household members in attempt to defend the most suitable for them income source. Decisive influence i...

Determinants of household choice of breakfast cereals: healthy or unhealthy?

OpenAIRE

Golub, Alla A.; Binkley, James K.

2005-01-01

We studied consumer demand for more and less healthy breakfast cereals. Using ACNielsen Homescan database and USDA food nutrition data, we developed three cereal nutrition indexes for each household in the data. In addition to the standard demographic characteristics of households and prices, we included variables representing differences between private labels and national brands. We found that the structure of the industry, through its effect on the product mix produced, affects consumer ch...

assessment of expenditure on food in nigerian urban households ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

USER

2014-04-02

Apr 2, 2014 ... through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, food security index, multiple linear regression and logit regression were employed to analyze data. ... It is a situation where households are not at risk of losing access.

Wealth distribution across communities of adaptive financial agents

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DeLellis, Pietro; Garofalo, Franco; Lo Iudice, Francesco; Napoletano, Elena

2015-08-01

This paper studies the trading volumes and wealth distribution of a novel agent-based model of an artificial financial market. In this model, heterogeneous agents, behaving according to the Von Neumann and Morgenstern utility theory, may mutually interact. A Tobin-like tax (TT) on successful investments and a flat tax are compared to assess the effects on the agents’ wealth distribution. We carry out extensive numerical simulations in two alternative scenarios: (i) a reference scenario, where the agents keep their utility function fixed, and (ii) a focal scenario, where the agents are adaptive and self-organize in communities, emulating their neighbours by updating their own utility function. Specifically, the interactions among the agents are modelled through a directed scale-free network to account for the presence of community leaders, and the herding-like effect is tested against the reference scenario. We observe that our model is capable of replicating the benefits and drawbacks of the two taxation systems and that the interactions among the agents strongly affect the wealth distribution across the communities. Remarkably, the communities benefit from the presence of leaders with successful trading strategies, and are more likely to increase their average wealth. Moreover, this emulation mechanism mitigates the decrease in trading volumes, which is a typical drawback of TTs.

The Influence Of Child Survival And Health Of The Previous Child ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The result indicated that significant relationship existed between birth order, sex of child, mother's age at birth, index of household wealth, and the length of the preceding birth interval, but not with rural/urban residence, mother's education and type of provider of prenatal care. The result further indicated that a combination of ...

An investigation on the effects of financial management skills, wealth and financial intelligence on investors’ risk tolerance: Empirical evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saied Aghasi

2014-05-01

Full Text Available During the past few years, Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE has been changed into one of the most popular places to invest and index has been quadrupled in fewer than three years. As a result, many people have been attracted to invest on TSE market. This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the effects of investors’ personal characteristics including financial management skills, wealth and financial intelligence on investors’ risk tolerance among 384 randomly chosen investors who were active on TSE market in city of Esfahan, Iran. Using structural equation modeling, the study has determined that financial management skills, wealth and financial intelligence influence positively on investors’ risk tolerance.

Corporate Restructuring and Bondholder Wealth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Renneboog, L.D.R.; Szilagyi, P.G.

2006-01-01

Abstract: This paper provides an overview of existing research on how corporate restructuring affects the wealth of creditors. Restructuring is defined as any transaction that affects the firm’s underlying capital structure. Thus, it reaches well beyond asset restructuring and includes transactions

Corporate Restructuring and Bondholder Wealth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Renneboog, L.D.R.; Szilagyi, P.G.

2006-01-01

This paper provides an overview of existing research on how corporate restructuring affects the wealth of creditors.Restructuring is defined as any transaction that affects the firm's underlying capital structure.Thus, it reaches well beyond asset restructuring and includes transactions such as

Duality in an asset exchange model for wealth distribution

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Li, Jie; Boghosian, Bruce M.

2018-05-01

Asset exchange models are agent-based economic models with binary transactions. Previous investigations have augmented these models with mechanisms for wealth redistribution, quantified by a parameter χ, and for trading bias favoring wealthier agents, quantified by a parameter ζ. By deriving and analyzing a Fokker-Planck equation for a particular asset exchange model thus augmented, it has been shown that it exhibits a second-order phase transition at ζ / χ = 1, between regimes with and without partial wealth condensation. In the "subcritical" regime with ζ / χ 1, a fraction 1 - χ / ζ of the wealth is condensed. Intuitively, one may associate the supercritical, wealth-condensed regime as reflecting the presence of "oligarchy," by which we mean that an infinitesimal fraction of the total agents hold a finite fraction of the total wealth in the continuum limit. In this paper, we further elucidate the phase behavior of this model - and hence of the generalized solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation that describes it - by demonstrating the existence of a remarkable symmetry between its supercritical and subcritical regimes in the steady-state. Noting that the replacement { ζ → χ , χ → ζ } , which clearly has the effect of inverting the order parameter ζ / χ, provides a one-to-one correspondence between the subcritical and supercritical states, we demonstrate that the wealth distribution of the subcritical state is identical to that of the corresponding supercritical state when the oligarchy is removed from the latter. We demonstrate this result analytically, both from the microscopic agent-level model and from its macroscopic Fokker-Planck description, as well as numerically. We argue that this symmetry is a kind of duality, analogous to the famous Kramers-Wannier duality between the subcritical and supercritical states of the Ising model, and to the Maldacena duality that underlies AdS/CFT theory.

Household crowding is associated with higher allostatic load among the Inuit.

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Riva, Mylene; Plusquellec, Pierrich; Juster, Robert-Paul; Laouan-Sidi, Elhadji A; Abdous, Belkacem; Lucas, Michel; Dery, Serge; Dewailly, Eric

2014-04-01

Household crowding is an important problem in some aboriginal communities that is reaching particularly high levels among the circumpolar Inuit. Living in overcrowded conditions may endanger health via stress pathophysiology. This study examines whether higher household crowding is associated with stress-related physiological dysregulations among the Inuit. Cross-sectional data on 822 Inuit adults were taken from the 2004 Qanuippitaa? How are we? Nunavik Inuit Health Survey. Chronic stress was measured using the concept of allostatic load (AL) representing the multisystemic biological 'wear and tear' of chronic stress. A summary index of AL was constructed using 14 physiological indicators compiled into a traditional count-based index and a binary variable that contrasted people at risk on at least seven physiological indicators. Household crowding was measured using indicators of household size (total number of people and number of children per house) and overcrowding defined as more than one person per room. Data were analysed using weighted Generalised Estimating Equations controlling for participants' age, sex, income, diet and involvement in traditional activities. Higher household crowding was significantly associated with elevated AL levels and with greater odds of being at risk on at least seven physiological indicators, especially among women and independently of individuals' characteristics. This study demonstrates that household crowding is a source of chronic stress among the Inuit of Nunavik. Differential housing conditions are shown to be a marker of health inequalities among this population. Housing conditions are a critical public health issue in many aboriginal communities that must be investigated further to inform healthy and sustainable housing strategies.

Catching Up or Falling Behind? Continuing Wealth Disparities for Immigrants to Canada by Region of Origin and Cohort.

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Maroto, Michelle; Aylsworth, Laura

2016-11-01

This paper investigates wealth disparities among first-generation immigrants using data from the 2012 Survey of Financial Security. We apply logistic and linear regression models to estimate disparities in homeownership and household equivalent net worth by immigrant status, region of origin, and time since arrival. By focusing on immigrant families from different regions who entered Canada at different points in time, this research applies theories related to assimilation, human capital, and structural barriers to wealth. Our findings demonstrate that even though many immigrant families transition into homeownership and grow their wealth over time, certain first-generation immigrant groups continue to experience wealth disparities many years after their arrival to Canada. In particular, immigrant families from African, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries experienced the largest wealth gaps. Cet article examine les disparités de richesse entre les immigrants de première génération en utilisant les données de l'Enquête 2012 sur la sécurité financière. Nous appliquons des modèles de régression logistique et linéaire pour estimer les disparités dans la propriété et valeur nette des ménages équivalente par le statut d'immigrant, la région d'origine, et le temps écoulé depuis leur arrivée. En se concentrant sur les familles d'immigrants de différentes régions qui sont entrés au Canada à différents points dans le temps, cette recherche applique les théories liées à l'assimilation, le capital humain, et les obstacles structurels à la richesse. Nos résultats démontrent que même si de nombreuses familles d'immigrants transition vers la propriété et de croître leur richesse au fil du temps, certains groupes d'immigrants de première génération continuent d'éprouver des disparités de richesse de nombreuses années après leur arrivée au Canada. En particulier, les familles d'immigrants d'Afrique, d'Asie, et les pays du Moyen-Orient ont

Does wealth inequality matter for growth? The effect of billionaire wealth, income distribution, and poverty

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bagchi, S.; Švejnar, Jan

2015-01-01

Roč. 43, č. 3 (2015), s. 505-530 ISSN 0147-5967 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-24642S Institutional support: RVO:67985998 Keywords : economic growth * wealth inequality * income inequality Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 1.380, year: 2015

Efficiency snakes and energy ladders: A (meta-)frontier demand analysis of electricity consumption efficiency in Chinese households

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broadstock, David C.; Li, Jiajia; Zhang, Dayong

2016-01-01

Policy makers presently lack access to quantified estimates – and hence an explicit understanding – of energy consumption efficiency within households, creating a potential gap between true efficiency levels and the necessarily assumed efficiency levels that policy makers adopt in designing and implementing energy policy. This paper attempts to fill this information gap by empirically quantifying electricity consumption efficiency for a sample of more than 7,000 households. Adopting the recently introduced ‘frontier demand function’ due to Filippini and Hunt (2011) but extending it into the metafrontier context – to control for structural heterogeneity arising from location type – it is shown that consumption efficiency is little more than 60% on average. This implies huge potential for energy reduction via the expansion of schemes to promote energy efficiency. City households, which are the wealthiest in the sample, are shown to define the metafrontier demand function (and hence have the potential to be the most efficient households), but at the same time exhibit the largest inefficiencies. These facts together allow for a potential refinement on the household energy ladder concept, suggesting that wealth affords access to the best technologies thereby increasing potential energy efficiency (the ‘traditional view of the household energy ladder), but complementary to this these same households are most inefficient. This has implications for numerous areas of policy, including for example the design of energy assistance schemes, identification of energy education needs/priorities as well more refined setting of subsidies/tax-credit policies. - Highlights: •Frontier demand functions are estimated for a sample of 7102 Chinese households. •Metafrontier methods capture heterogeneity arising from urban form (e.g. cities, towns and villages). •Wealthier houses have higher efficiency potential, but are in fact less efficient in their consumption of

The Influence of Wealth and Race in Four-Year College Attendance

OpenAIRE

Su Jin Jez

2008-01-01

College is increasingly essential for economic and social mobility. Current research devotes significant attention to race and socioeconomic factors in college access. Yet wealth’s role, as differentiated from income, is largely unexplored. Utilizing a nationally representative dataset, this study analyzes the role of wealth among students who attend four-year colleges. The hypothesis that wealth matters through the provision of differential habitus, social capital, and cultural capital tha...

Incident Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in household contacts of infectious tuberculosis patients in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones-López, Edward C; Acuña-Villaorduña, Carlos; Fregona, Geisa; Marques-Rodrigues, Patricia; White, Laura F; Hadad, David Jamil; Dutra-Molina, Lucilia Pereira; Vinhas, Solange; McIntosh, Avery I; Gaeddert, Mary; Ribeiro-Rodrigues, Rodrigo; Salgame, Padmini; Palaci, Moises; Alland, David; Ellner, Jerrold J; Dietze, Reynaldo

2017-08-18

In household contact investigations of tuberculosis (TB), a second tuberculin skin test (TST) obtained several weeks after a first negative result consistently identifies individuals that undergo TST conversion. It remains unclear whether this delay in M. tuberculosis infection is related to differences in the infectious exposure, TST boosting, partial host resistance, or some other factor. We conducted a household contact study Vitória, Brazil. Between 2008 and 2013, we identified culture-positive pulmonary TB patients and evaluated their household contacts with both a TST and interferon gamma release assay (IGRA), and identified TST converters at 8-12 weeks post study enrollment. Contacts were classified as TST-positive (≥10 mm) at baseline, TST converters, or persistently TST-negative. We compared TST converters to TST-positive and to TST-negative contacts separately, using generalized estimating equations. We enrolled 160 index patients and 838 contacts; 523 (62.4%) were TST+, 62 (7.4%) TST converters, and 253 (30.2%) TST-. TST converters were frequently IGRA- at 8-12 weeks. In adjusted analyses, characteristics distinguishing TST converters from TST+ contacts (no contact with another TB patient and residence ownership) were different than those differentiating them from TST- contacts (stronger cough in index patient and contact BCG scar). The individual risk and timing of M. tuberculosis infection within households is variable and dependent on index patient, contact and environmental factors within the household, and the surrounding community. Our findings suggest a threshold effect in the risk of infection in humans.

Effects of heterogeneous wealth distribution on public cooperation with collective risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jing; Fu, Feng; Wang, Long

2010-07-01

The distribution of wealth among individuals in real society can be well described by the Pareto principle or "80-20 rule." How does such heterogeneity in initial wealth distribution affect the emergence of public cooperation, when individuals, the rich and the poor, engage in a collective-risk enterprise, not to gain a profit but to avoid a potential loss? Here we address this issue by studying a simple but effective model based on threshold public goods games. We analyze the evolutionary dynamics for two distinct scenarios, respectively: one with fair sharers versus defectors and the other with altruists versus defectors. For both scenarios, particularly, we in detail study the dynamics of the population with dichotomic initial wealth-the rich versus the poor. Moreover, we demonstrate the possible steady compositions of the population and provide the conditions for stability of these steady states. We prove that in a population with heterogeneous wealth distribution, richer individuals are more likely to cooperate than poorer ones. Participants with lower initial wealth may choose to cooperate only if all players richer than them are cooperators. The emergence of pubic cooperation largely relies on rich individuals. Furthermore, whenever the wealth gap between the rich and the poor is sufficiently large, cooperation of a few rich individuals can substantially elevate the overall level of social cooperation, which is in line with the well-known Pareto principle. Our work may offer an insight into the emergence of cooperative behavior in real social situations where heterogeneous distribution of wealth among individual is omnipresent.

Out-of-pocket costs and other determinants of access to healthcare for children with febrile illnesses: a case-control study in rural Tanzania.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joëlle Castellani

Full Text Available To study private costs and other determinants of access to healthcare for childhood fevers in rural Tanzania.A case-control study was conducted in Tanzania to establish factors that determine access to a health facility in acute febrile illnesses in children less than 5 years of age. Carers of eligible children were interviewed in the community; cases were represented by patients who went to a facility and controls by those who did not. A Household Wealth Index was estimated using principal components analysis. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to understand the factors which influenced attendance of healthcare facility including severity of the illness and household wealth/socio-demographic indicators. To complement the data on costs from community interviews, a hospital-based study obtained details of private expenditures for hospitalised children under the age of 5.Severe febrile illness is strongly associated with health facility attendance (OR: 35.76, 95%CI: 3.68-347.43, p = 0.002 compared with less severe febrile illness. Overall, the private costs of an illness for patients who went to a hospital were six times larger than private costs of controls ($5.68 vs. $0.90, p<0.0001. Household wealth was not significantly correlated with total costs incurred. The separate hospital based cost study indicated that private costs were three times greater for admissions at the mission versus public hospital: $13.68 mission vs. $4.47 public hospital (difference $ 9.21 (95% CI: 7.89 -10.52, p<0.0001. In both locations, approximately 50% of the cost was determined by the duration of admission, with each day in hospital increasing private costs by about 12% (95% CI: 5% - 21%.The more severely ill a child, the higher the probability of attending hospital. We did not find association between household wealth and attending a health facility; nor was there an association between household wealth and private cost.

A Household-Based Distribution-Sensitive Human Development Index: An Empirical Application to Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez-Calva, Luis F.; Ortiz-Juarez, Eduardo

2012-01-01

In measuring human development, one of the main concerns relates to the inclusion of a measure that penalizes inequalities in the distribution of achievements across the population. Using indicators from nationally representative household surveys and census data, this paper proposes a straightforward methodology to estimate a household-based…

Household Inequality, Welfare, and the Setting of Trade Policy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J.F. François (Joseph); H. Rojas-Romagosa

2004-01-01

textabstractWe analyze general equilibrium relationships between trade policy and the household distribution of income, decomposing social welfare into real income level and variance components through Gini and Atkinson indexes. We embed these inequality-adjusted social welfare functions in a

Household Contact Screening and Yield of Tuberculosis Cases-A Clinic Based Study in Chennai, South India.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dina Nair

Full Text Available Contact investigation is an active case finding strategy to increase detection of Tuberculosis (TB and a key component of TB control programs. The household contacts are at a higher risk of exposure than members of the general population. The information on the value and yield of household contact screening and the approaches used in high incidence settings like India is limited.To evaluate the yield of active case finding in household contacts of newly diagnosed smear positive TB patients and the factors associated with increased yield.Retrospective record review of the household contacts of newly diagnosed sputum smear positive patients (index case enrolled in a clinical trial at National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai during the period 2007-2014. A sequential screening algorithm with chest x-ray followed by symptom screen was employed to identify presumptive TB patients.643 household contacts of 280 index TB patients were identified out of which 544 (85% consented for screening. 71/544 (13% patients had an abnormal chest radiograph and out of them 70% were symptomatic. A total of 29/544 (5.3% contacts were found to have TB among whom 23/29 (79% were sputum smear positive. The number needed to screen (NNS to identify a new TB case among all household contacts was 19 and among those with an abnormal CXR was 02. Age group > 44 years, male gender and siblings of the index case was associated with abnormal chest radiograph whereas age group between 15-44 was significantly associated with developing TB disease among household contacts.Active screening among household contacts is an effective way to improve TB case detection. The yield for new TB cases among contacts with abnormal x-ray was high in this study and the use of Chest X-rays in combination with symptom screen is recommended.

Preterm Birth and Adult Wealth: Mathematics Skills Count.

Science.gov (United States)

Basten, Maartje; Jaekel, Julia; Johnson, Samantha; Gilmore, Camilla; Wolke, Dieter

2015-10-01

Each year, 15 million babies worldwide are born preterm. Preterm birth is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes across the life span. Recent registry-based studies suggest that preterm birth is associated with decreased wealth in adulthood, but the mediating mechanisms are unknown. This study investigated whether the relationship between preterm birth and low adult wealth is mediated by poor academic abilities and educational qualifications. Participants were members of two British population-based birth cohorts born in 1958 and 1970, respectively. Results showed that preterm birth was associated with decreased wealth at 42 years of age. This association was mediated by decreased intelligence, reading, and, in particular, mathematics attainment in middle childhood, as well as decreased educational qualifications in young adulthood. Findings were similar in both cohorts, which suggests that these mechanisms may be time invariant. Special educational support in childhood may prevent preterm children from becoming less wealthy as adults. © The Author(s) 2015.

What is the association between wealth and mental health?

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Carter, K N; Blakely, T; Collings, S; Imlach Gunasekara, F; Richardson, K

2009-03-01

Socioeconomic inequalities in mental health have been shown in a number of populations. This study aims to investigate the association between asset wealth and psychological distress in New Zealand and whether it is independent of other socioeconomic measures and baseline health status. Data for this study were from the first three waves of the Survey of Families, Income and Employment (SoFIE) conducted in New Zealand (2002-2004/05) (n = 15 340). The Kessler-10 was used as a measure of psychological distress. The association of quintiles of wealth with psychological distress was investigated using logistic regression, controlling for confounders, socioeconomic variables and prior health status. The odds ratio (OR) of reporting high psychological distress were greater in the lowest wealth quintile compared with the highest (OR 3.06, 95% CI 2.68 to 3.50). Adjusting for age and sex did not alter the relationship; however, adjusting for income and area deprivation attenuated the OR to 1.73 (95% CI 1.48 to 2.04). Further controlling for baseline health status reduced the OR to 1.45 (95% CI 1.23 to 1.71), although the confidence interval still excluded the null. Inequalities in wealth are strongly associated with psychological distress, over and above other confounding demographic variables and baseline health status. Much, but not all, of that association is confounded by adult socioeconomic position. This suggests that policy measures to improve asset wealth, through savings and home ownership, may have positive health implications and help to reduce health inequalities.

Household structure vs. composition: Understanding gendered effects on educational progress in rural South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Madhavan, Sangeetha; Myroniuk, Tyler W; Kuhn, Randall; Collinson, Mark A

2017-01-01

Demographers have long been interested in the relationship between living arrangements and gendered outcomes for children in sub-Saharan Africa. Most extant research conflates household structure with composition and has revealed little about the pathways that link these components to gendered outcomes. First, we offer a conceptual approach that differentiates structure from composition with a focus on gendered processes that operate in the household; and second, we demonstrate the value of this approach through an analysis of educational progress for boys and girls in rural South Africa. We use data from the 2002 round of the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System. Our analytical sample includes 22,997 children aged 6-18 who were neither parents themselves nor lived with a partner or partner's family. We employ ordinary least squares regression models to examine the effects of structure and composition on educational progress of girls and boys. The results suggest that non-nuclear structures are associated with similar negative effects for both boys and girls compared to children growing up in nuclear households. However, the presence of other kin in the absence of one or both parents results in gendered effects favouring boys. The absence of any gendered effects when using a household structure typology suggests that secular changes to attitudes about gender equity trump any specific gendered processes stemming from particular configurations. On the other hand, gendered effects that appear when one or both parents are absent show that traditional gender norms and/or resource constraints continue to favour boys. Despite the wealth of literature on household structure and children's educational outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa, the conceptual basis of these effects has not been well articulated. We have shown the value of unpacking household structure to better understand how gender norms and gendered resource allocations impact education.

Institutions as a Constituent of the Social Wealth and a Factor of the Synthesis of its Constituents

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Silantiev Oleh I.

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The publication is aimed at studying the role of institutions in the development of modern macroeconomic systems and the growth of their wealth. The integral, integrated, logical approach plus the mathematical modelling method were used for carrying out the analysis. It has been found that the value of institutions is defined for society through cost reduction, as opposed to the value of other accrued benefits that exist in forms of valuable material things, knowledge, information, etc., and the worth of which, accordingly, is determined by the growth of the end result (increase in their volume. A classification of institutions by the criterion of their efficiency for the development of society has been proposed. The economic-mathematical model has been built and analyzed in the form of a regression equation that expresses the dependence of GDP according to the purchasing power parity (PPP per person from the corruption perception index. It has been found that there is a stochastic link between the corruptness of public governance and the formation of the wealth of modern macroeconomic systems. The obtained results can be applied in the sphere of public governance in the formation of Ukraine’s social and economic policy. Prospects for further research are an in-depth examination of the relationship between the institutional infrastructure of society and the level of its wealth.

Multidimensional poverty, household environment and short-term morbidity in India.

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Dehury, Bidyadhar; Mohanty, Sanjay K

2017-01-01

Using the unit data from the second round of the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS-II), 2011-2012, which covered 42,152 households, this paper examines the association between multidimensional poverty, household environmental deprivation and short-term morbidities (fever, cough and diarrhoea) in India. Poverty is measured in a multidimensional framework that includes the dimensions of education, health and income, while household environmental deprivation is defined as lack of access to improved sanitation, drinking water and cooking fuel. A composite index combining multidimensional poverty and household environmental deprivation has been computed, and households are classified as follows: multidimensional poor and living in a poor household environment, multidimensional non-poor and living in a poor household environment, multidimensional poor and living in a good household environment and multidimensional non-poor and living in a good household environment. Results suggest that about 23% of the population belonging to multidimensional poor households and living in a poor household environment had experienced short-term morbidities in a reference period of 30 days compared to 20% of the population belonging to multidimensional non-poor households and living in a poor household environment, 19% of the population belonging to multidimensional poor households and living in a good household environment and 15% of the population belonging to multidimensional non-poor households and living in a good household environment. Controlling for socioeconomic covariates, the odds of short-term morbidity was 1.47 [CI 1.40-1.53] among the multidimensional poor and living in a poor household environment, 1.28 [CI 1.21-1.37] among the multidimensional non-poor and living in a poor household environment and 1.21 [CI 1.64-1.28] among the multidimensional poor and living in a good household environment compared to the multidimensional non-poor and living in a good household

'Health is wealth and wealth is health'--perceptions of health and ill-health among female sex workers in Savannakhet, Laos.

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Phrasisombath, Ketkesone; Thomsen, Sarah; Sychareun, Vanphanom; Faxelid, Elisabeth

2013-01-02

Female sex workers (FSWs) are vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and other types of health problems and they also encounter socio-economic difficulties. Efforts to develop effective health intervention programs for FSWs have been hampered by a lack of information on why FSWs do not seek or delay seeking treatment for STIs. To further understand their reasons, our study applied a qualitative approach to explore perceptions of health and ill-health among FSWs in Savannakhet province in Laos. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with FSWs in Savannakhet province. Latent content analysis was used for analysis. Sex workers' definitions of health and wealth are intertwined. Thus, good health was described as strongly related to wealth, and wealth was needed in order to be healthy. This is explained in two sub-themes: health is necessary for work and income and ill-health creates social and economic vulnerability. Female sex workers' beliefs and perceptions about health and ill-health were dominated by their economic need, which in turn was influenced by expectations and demands from their families.

Does Consumer Confidence Forecast Household Saving and Borrowing Behavior? Evidence for Poland.

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Kłopocka, Aneta Maria

2017-01-01

Consumer confidence plays an important role in households' decision-making processes. This study investigates the effects of consumer confidence on household saving and borrowing behavior that are unsatisfactorily considered in previous discussions. The questions of interest are first, whether indexes of consumer confidence have any predictive power on their own for future household saving and borrowing rates, and second, whether they contain information about future household saving and borrowing rates aside from the information contained in other available indicators. In addition to aggregate confidence indicators, their components are used to provide more precise information. Overall, the multiple linear regression analysis (OLS technique) of Polish time-series data gives positive answers to both questions. This finding supports the recommendation of combining the strengths of objective indicators (such as economic fundamentals) and subjective indicators (such as consumer confidence) to improve household financial behavior forecasts.

Health-Wealth Association among Older Americans: Racial and Ethnic Differences

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Lum, Terry

2004-01-01

Using five-year longitudinal data from the AHEAD survey, this study investigated the direction of association between health and wealth among elderly people. In particular, it focused on how this association varied across racial and ethnic groups. The study found that there was a significant nonmonotonic association between health and wealth and…

ANALYSIS OF INCOME INEQUALITY AND POVERTY DYNAMICS AMONG RURAL FARM HOUSEHOLDS IN ABIA STATE, NIGERIA

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Jude Anayochukwu Mbanasor

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The study analyzed income inequality and poverty dynamics among rural farm households in Abia State, Nigeria. Beyond the broad objective, the study sought specifically to estimate the income distribution and determine the poverty line, gap and incidence of the rural farm households. A total of 240 households were selected across the agricultural zones using multistage sampling technique from which data and information were elicited. Data collection was between 2010 and 2011. Analytically, the study employed Gini coefficient in the estimation of income distribution while poverty indicators (Mean household income, headcount ratio and poverty gap index were used to measure poverty line, poverty incidence and gap. Income distribution showed high level of inequality (Gini index = 0.987 with per capita income falling below the operational national minimum wage. The poverty gap and incidence gave a scary picture of worsening poverty situation, judging from the poverty indicators (head count index = 0.567; poverty gap = 0.568. To reverse the trend, it is important that concerted efforts are made by way of policy direction to ensure that the rural economy which is largely agrarian is improved. This can be achieved by adopting input subsidy, private sector driven market access policy, labour intensive techniques in execution of public projects among others.

Do wealth disparities contribute to health disparities within racial/ethnic groups?

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Pollack, Craig Evan; Cubbin, Catherine; Sania, Ayesha; Hayward, Mark; Vallone, Donna; Flaherty, Brian; Braveman, Paula A

2013-05-01

Though wide disparities in wealth have been documented across racial/ethnic groups, it is largely unknown whether differences in wealth are associated with health disparities within racial/ethnic groups. Data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (2004, ages 25-64) and the Health and Retirement Survey (2004, ages 50+), containing a wide range of assets and debts variables, were used to calculate net worth (a standard measure of wealth). Among non-Hispanic black, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white populations, we tested whether wealth was associated with self-reported poor/fair health status after accounting for income and education. Except among the younger Hispanic population, net worth was significantly associated with poor/fair health status within each racial/ethnic group in both data sets. Adding net worth attenuated the association between education and poor/fair health (in all racial/ethnic groups) and between income and poor/fair health (except among older Hispanics). The results add to the literature indicating the importance of including measures of wealth in health research for what they may reveal about disparities not only between but also within different racial/ethnic groups.

Income and wealth distribution of the richest Norwegian individuals: An inequality analysis

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Jagielski, Maciej; Czyżewski, Kordian; Kutner, Ryszard; Stanley, H. Eugene

2017-05-01

Using the empirical data from the Norwegian Tax Administration, we analyze the wealth and income of the richest individuals in Norway during the period 2010-2013. We find that both annual income and wealth level of the richest individuals are describable using the Pareto law. We find that the robust mean Pareto exponent over the four-year period to be ≈2.3 for income and ≈1.5 for wealth.

Household costs among patients hospitalized with malaria: evidence from a national survey in Malawi, 2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Hennessee, Ian; Chinkhumba, Jobiba; Briggs-Hagen, Melissa; Bauleni, Andy; Shah, Monica P; Chalira, Alfred; Moyo, Dubulao; Dodoli, Wilfred; Luhanga, Misheck; Sande, John; Ali, Doreen; Gutman, Julie; Lindblade, Kim A; Njau, Joseph; Mathanga, Don P

2017-10-02

With 71% of Malawians living on malaria are likely a major economic burden for low income families and may constitute an important barrier to care seeking. Nevertheless, few efforts have been made to examine these costs. This paper describes household costs associated with seeking and receiving inpatient care for malaria in health facilities in Malawi. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a representative nationwide sample of 36 health facilities providing inpatient treatment for malaria from June-August, 2012. Patients admitted at least 12 h before study team visits who had been prescribed an antimalarial after admission were eligible to provide cost information for their malaria episode, including care seeking at previous health facilities. An ingredients-based approach was used to estimate direct costs. Indirect costs were estimated using a human capital approach. Key drivers of total household costs for illness episodes resulting in malaria admission were assessed by fitting a generalized linear model, accounting for clustering at the health facility level. Out of 100 patients who met the eligibility criteria, 80 (80%) provided cost information for their entire illness episode to date and were included: 39% of patients were under 5 years old and 75% had sought care for the malaria episode at other facilities prior to coming to the current facility. Total household costs averaged $17.48 per patient; direct and indirect household costs averaged $7.59 and $9.90, respectively. Facility management type, household distance from the health facility, patient age, high household wealth, and duration of hospital stay were all significant drivers of overall costs. Although malaria treatment is supposed to be free in public health facilities, households in Malawi still incur high direct and indirect costs for malaria illness episodes that result in hospital admission. Finding ways to minimize the economic burden of inpatient malaria care is crucial to protect

Income and Wealth Distribution in a Neoclassical Two-Sector Heterogeneous-Households Growth Model with Elastic Labor Supply and Consumer Durable Goods

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Wei-Bin ZHANG

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a two-sector two-group growth model with elastic labor supply and consumer durable goods. We study dynamics of wealth and income distribution in a competitive economy with capital accumulation as the main engine of economic growth. The model is built on the Uzawa two-sector model. It is also influenced by the neoclassical growth theory and the post-Keynesian theory of growth and distribution. We plot the motion of the economic system and determine the economic equilibrium. We carry out comparative dynamic analysis with regard to the propensity to save and improvements in human capital and technology.

Low use of contraception among poor women in Africa: an equity issue

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Gillespie, Duff; Karklins, Sabrina; Tsui, Amy O

2011-01-01

Abstract Objective To examine the use of contraception in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa; to assess changes in met need for contraception associated with wealth-related inequity; and to describe the relationship between the use of long-term versus short-term contraceptive methods and a woman’s fertility intentions and household wealth. Methods The analysis was conducted with Demographic and Health Survey data from 13 sub-Saharan African countries. Wealth-related inequities in the use of contraception were calculated using household wealth and concentration indices. Logistic regression models were fitted for the likelihood of using a long-term contraceptive method, with adjustments for: wealth index quintile, fertility intentions (to space births versus to stop childbearing), residence (urban/rural), education, number of living children, marital status and survey year. Findings The use of contraception has increased substantially between surveys in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia but has declined slightly in Kenya, Senegal and Uganda. Wealth-related inequalities in the met need for contraception have decreased in most countries and especially so in Mozambique, but they have increased in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia with regard to spacing births, and in Malawi, Senegal, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia with regard to limiting childbearing. After adjustment for fertility intention, women in the richest wealth quintile were more likely than those in the poorest quintile to practice long-term contraception. Conclusion Family planning programmes in sub-Saharan Africa show varying success in reaching all social segments, but inequities persist in all countries. PMID:21479090

The Financial Burden of Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases in Rural Nigeria: Wealth and Gender Heterogeneity in Health Care Utilization and Health Expenditures.

Science.gov (United States)

Janssens, Wendy; Goedecke, Jann; de Bree, Godelieve J; Aderibigbe, Sunday A; Akande, Tanimola M; Mesnard, Alice

2016-01-01

Better insights into health care utilization and out-of-pocket expenditures for non-communicable chronic diseases (NCCD) are needed to develop accessible health care and limit the increasing financial burden of NCCDs in Sub-Saharan Africa. A household survey was conducted in rural Kwara State, Nigeria, among 5,761 individuals. Data were obtained using biomedical and socio-economic questionnaires. Health care utilization, NCCD-related health expenditures and distances to health care providers were compared by sex and by wealth quintile, and a Heckman regression model was used to estimate health expenditures taking selection bias in health care utilization into account. The prevalence of NCCDs in our sample was 6.2%. NCCD-affected individuals from the wealthiest quintile utilized formal health care nearly twice as often as those from the lowest quintile (87.8% vs 46.2%, p = 0.002). Women reported foregone formal care more often than men (43.5% vs. 27.0%, p = 0.058). Health expenditures relative to annual consumption of the poorest quintile exceeded those of the highest quintile 2.2-fold, and the poorest quintile exhibited a higher rate of catastrophic health spending (10.8% among NCCD-affected households) than the three upper quintiles (4.2% to 6.7%). Long travel distances to the nearest provider, highest for the poorest quintile, were a significant deterrent to seeking care. Using distance to the nearest facility as instrument to account for selection into health care utilization, we estimated out-of-pocket health care expenditures for NCCDs to be significantly higher in the lowest wealth quintile compared to the three upper quintiles. Facing potentially high health care costs and poor accessibility of health care facilities, many individuals suffering from NCCDs-particularly women and the poor-forego formal care, thereby increasing the risk of more severe illness in the future. When seeking care, the poor spend less on treatment than the rich, suggestive of lower

Effect of fuelwood scarcity and socio-economic factors on household bio-based energy use and energy substitution in rural Ethiopia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guta, Dawit Diriba

2014-01-01

In Ethiopia biomass is predominantly utilized for household energy needs often using inefficient rudimentary stoves which cause adverse environmental and welfare effects. This paper examined the contribution of biomass resources to rural household energy use and energy substitution. The analysis applied the ordinary least square in the final stage estimation of fuelwood and overall biomass energy consumption by using predicted shadow prices. The paper used Tobit model to estimate charcoal and agricultural fuel consumption due to the presence of censoring. An increase in fuelwood shadow price was associated with reduced household fuelwood consumption with price elasticity of −0.38. The cross price elasticity between fuelwood and agricultural fuels revealed no evidence of energy substitution, which conforms to the findings of previous studies. Household access to electricity was associated with lower household biomass energy utilization but kerosene was not fuelwood substitute. Household energy use conformed to the ‘fuel stacking’ or ‘multiple fuel use’ concept, but households preferred modern energy options as welfare increased in areas where modern energy is available. This suggests that there is a promising prospect for fuel-transition, but access to modern energy and economic growth have key roles. The findings suggest that a concerted policy effort is required that would help diversify rural livelihoods, improve living standards and encourage economic growth, encourage inter-fuel substitution through improved modern energy access and afforestation to increase biomass supply. - Highlights: • The paper examined household biomass energy use and energy substitution. • Fuelwood use declined with increases in fuelwood scarcity or its shadow price. • Fuelwood and charcoal use increased with increase in household wealth. • Biomass energy consumption declined with an increase in household electricity use. • The result indicated agricultural fuel and

Income and crop diversification among farming households in a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Both strategies were analyzed based on empirical data collected from rural households. The analysis was done using the Simpson Index of Diversity (SID) and Ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis. The results revealed that diversification into a number of income sources and crops grown were very high.

Marriage, Wealth, and Unemployment Duration:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lentz, Rasmus; Tranæs, Torben

and the wealthier the woman is, the longer it takes for her to find a job. The contrary is the case for men, where spouse income affects job finding positively: the more the wife earns, the faster the husband finds a job. This is so despite the fact that greater own wealth also prolongs unemployment spells for men...

Wealth and the nation's health.

Science.gov (United States)

Blackburn, C

1993-07-01

Social and economic prosperity to a great extent depend on a healthy population; similarly good health depends on adequate income, writes Clare Blackburn. The government strategy for health promotion outlined most recently in The health of the nation, fails to acknowledge this. Nevertheless health visitors and school nurses cannot ignore the links between health and wealth.

Wealth differentials in the impact of conditional and unconditional cash transfers on education: findings from a community-randomised controlled trial in Zimbabwe.

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Fenton, Rory; Nyamukapa, Constance; Gregson, Simon; Robertson, Laura; Mushati, Phyllis; Thomas, Ranjeeta; Eaton, Jeffrey W

2016-12-01

We investigated (1) how household wealth affected the relationship between conditional cash transfers (CCT) and unconditional cash transfers (UCT) and school attendance, (2) whether CCT and UCT affected educational outcomes (repeating a year of school), (3) if baseline school attendance and transfer conditions affected how much of the transfers participants spent on education and (4) if CCT or UCT reduced child labour in recipient households. Data were analysed from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of CCT and UCT in 4043 households from 2009 to 2010. Recipient households received $18 dollars per month plus $4 per child. CCT were conditioned on above 80% school attendance, a full vaccination record and a birth certificate. In the poorest quintile, the odds ratio of above 80% school attendance at follow-up for those with below 80% school attendance at baseline was 1.06 (p = .67) for UCT vs. CCT. UCT recipients reported spending slightly more (46.1% (45.4-46.7)) of the transfer on school expenses than did CCT recipients (44.8% (44.1-45.5)). Amongst those with baseline school attendance of below 80%, there was no statistically significant difference between CCT and UCT participants in the proportion of the transfer spent on school expenses (p = .63). Amongst those with above 80% baseline school attendance, CCT participants spent 3.5% less (p = .001) on school expenses than UCT participants. UCT participants were no less likely than those in the control group to repeat a grade of school. CCT participants had .69 (.60-.79) lower odds vs. control of repeating the previous school grade. Children in CCT recipient households spent an average of .31 fewer hours in paid work than those in the control group (p control arm (p = .06).

Inheritance and intergenerational wealth transmission in eighteenth-century Ottoman Kastamonu: an empirical investigation.

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Ergene, Boğaç A; Berker, Ali

2009-01-01

This article investigates the relationship between inheritance and wealth in the context of eighteenth-century Ottoman Kastamonu. Based on the estate inventories of the deceased (sing. tereke) as recorded in Kastamonu court records (sicils), the article introduces a variety of quantitative techniques to measure the impact of Islamic inheritance practices on wealth accumulation across subsequent generations and to understand how it influenced wealth mobility among various socioeconomic groups. The estimations provided in this article suggest that while the inheritance practice in Kastamonu caused wealth fragmentation, the process also contributed to the durability of economic divisions within the provincial Ottoman society.

Effects of heterogeneous wealth distribution on public cooperation with collective risk

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jing; Fu, Feng; Wang, Long

2010-07-01

The distribution of wealth among individuals in real society can be well described by the Pareto principle or “80-20 rule.” How does such heterogeneity in initial wealth distribution affect the emergence of public cooperation, when individuals, the rich and the poor, engage in a collective-risk enterprise, not to gain a profit but to avoid a potential loss? Here we address this issue by studying a simple but effective model based on threshold public goods games. We analyze the evolutionary dynamics for two distinct scenarios, respectively: one with fair sharers versus defectors and the other with altruists versus defectors. For both scenarios, particularly, we in detail study the dynamics of the population with dichotomic initial wealth—the rich versus the poor. Moreover, we demonstrate the possible steady compositions of the population and provide the conditions for stability of these steady states. We prove that in a population with heterogeneous wealth distribution, richer individuals are more likely to cooperate than poorer ones. Participants with lower initial wealth may choose to cooperate only if all players richer than them are cooperators. The emergence of pubic cooperation largely relies on rich individuals. Furthermore, whenever the wealth gap between the rich and the poor is sufficiently large, cooperation of a few rich individuals can substantially elevate the overall level of social cooperation, which is in line with the well-known Pareto principle. Our work may offer an insight into the emergence of cooperative behavior in real social situations where heterogeneous distribution of wealth among individual is omnipresent.

Evaluation of Iranian Household\\'s Diet in terms of Calcium and Iron Density in the Seven Provinces of Iran

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Saeedeh Valaei

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Imbalanced diet, as it may cause micronutrient malnutrition has been known as a causal factor for several chronic diseases. Several studies in Iran have shown that some micro-nutrient deficiencies are prevalent and of high concern. Minerals such as calcium and iron can supply physical and mental health as well as survival, and growth development. In this study, Nutrient density analysis was used to display Iranian households' diet quality. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, the diet quality of seven provinces, namely Eastern Azarbaijan, Isfahan, Tehran, Khorasan, Khouzestan, Sistan Balochestan and Fars was assessed in terms of calcium and iron. To do so, the data were obtained through national household food consumption survey conducted by National Nutrition & Food Technology Research Institute, 2000-02, in Iran. Results: Generally, 80% of households' calcium density was less than the standard value and this rate was 40-70% for iron. Index of nutrition quality (INQ for calcium and iron were respectively almost 1/2 and 1/3 of requirements in all provinces. Conclusions: There were significant differences in calcium intake density between the rural and urban households however; there were no differences between the selective provinces and all over the country

Avoiding poverty: distributing wealth in fisheries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eide, A.; Bavinck, M.; Raakjær, J.; Jentoft, S.; Eide, A.

2011-01-01

Aquatic resources contribute to economic growth, food security, and the livelihoods of millions of fishers around the world. This is evidenced by the industrialization of capture fisheries in the twentieth century, which has generated enormous wealth. Rather than supporting a policy aimed at

American's desire for less wealth inequality does not depend on how you ask them

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Michael I. Norton

2013-05-01

Full Text Available A large body of survey research offers evidence that citizens are not always fully aware of the economic and political realities in their respective countries. Norton and Ariely (2011 extended this research to the domain of wealth inequality, showing that Americans were surprisingly unaware of the shape of the wealth distribution in America. Using an alternative methodology, Eriksson and Simpson (2012 found that asking Americans to estimate the average wealth of quintiles, rather than the percent of wealth owned by each quintile, led to relatively more accurate estimates. We note, however, that the Eriksson and Simpson (2012 results do not challenge Norton and Ariely's (2011 conclusion that Americans desire a much more equal distribution of wealth.

Money giveth, money taketh away: the dual effect of wealth on happiness.

Science.gov (United States)

Quoidbach, Jordi; Dunn, Elizabeth W; Petrides, K V; Mikolajczak, Moïra

2010-06-01

This study provides the first evidence that money impairs people's ability to savor everyday positive emotions and experiences. In a sample of working adults, wealthier individuals reported lower savoring ability (the ability to enhance and prolong positive emotional experience). Moreover, the negative impact of wealth on individuals' ability to savor undermined the positive effects of money on their happiness. We experimentally exposed participants to a reminder of wealth and produced the same deleterious effect on their ability to savor as that produced by actual individual differences in wealth, a result supporting the theory that money has a causal effect on savoring. Moving beyond self-reports, we found that participants exposed to a reminder of wealth spent less time savoring a piece of chocolate and exhibited reduced enjoyment of it compared with participants not exposed to wealth. This article presents evidence supporting the widely held but previously untested belief that having access to the best things in life may actually undercut people's ability to reap enjoyment from life's small pleasures.

Factors associated with child hunger among food insecure households in Bangladesh

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Md Ahshanul Haque

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Hunger is associated with food insecurity at the household level and is considered as a global public health problem with long term adverse consequences on children’s health. This study aims to determine the factors associated with child hunger from a nationally representative sample in Bangladesh among food insecure households. Methods Data was derived from the Food Security and Nutritional Surveillance Project; 14,712 children aged 6–59 months belonging to food insecure households contributed to the analysis. Information on food security at the household level was collected for 30 days preceding the survey. Descriptive statistics served to illustrate the variables studied and multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the significant risk factors for child hunger. Results Overall 10% of the children were found to be hungry. After adjusting for seasonality, residence type and education level of household head, the variables - female headed households [OR: 1.87 (1.43–2.45; p < 0.001], severely food insecure households [OR: 10.5 (1.43–76.6; p < 0.05], households having women with no education [OR: 1.56 (1.27–1.92; p < 0.05], poorest asset quintile [OR: 1.50 (1.11–2.15; p < 0.05] and the amount of rice consumed per household per week [OR: 0.94 (0.92–0.96; p < 0.001] were found to be significantly and independently associated with child hunger. Conclusions Out of the potential risk factors examined, our study found significant and independent association of five variables with child hunger: sex of the household head, household food insecurity status, educational status of household women and asset index. Despite all sampled household being food insecure, degree of household food insecurity status appeared to be the strongest predictor of child hunger.

DETERMINANTS OF INCOME DIVERSIFICATION AMONG MAIZE FARM HOUSEHOLDS IN THE GARU-TEMPANE DISTRICT, GHANA

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Gilbert DAGUNGA

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This study explores the determinants of income diversification using a sample of 200 farm-level data collected from households in the Garu-Tampane district, Ghana. The Simpson Index of Diversification was used to determine the extent of income diversification while Fractional Response Model, particularly Generalized Linear Model (GLM was employed to identify the determinants of income diversification. Results from the Simpson Index of Diversification showed that the average income diversification index was 0.65 with the minimum and maximum of 0.13 and 0.83, respectively. No farm household was found to depend solely on a single source of income for its survival. The results from the Generalized Linear Model revealed that extension services, attendance to demonstration fields, membership of Farmer-based Organizations (FBOs, farmer accessibility to credit, the number of days spent on on-farm activities per month and the number of years in maize farming significantly influence income diversification. The study, therefore, concludes that farm-level policies geared towards alternative sources of income for the rural farm household should focus on improving extension services, the formation of farmer-based organizations, use of demonstration fields as well as ensuring farmers’ accessibility to credit.

Conditional Wealth Neutrality as a School Finance Equity Criterion in Illinois.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmink, David P.; And Others

This study looks at the relationship between district wealth and revenues available for education in Illinois using a "conditional" conception of wealth neutrality that holds constant the operational tax rate. Data used were demographic data of Illinois school districts. An analysis of beta weights suggested an undesirable relationship…

Effects of rheumatoid arthritis on household chores and leisure-time activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Leino, Mauri; Tuominen, Sini; Pirilä, Laura; Tuominen, Risto

2015-11-01

The aim of the study was to determine household chores and leisure-time activities most affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to evaluate the perceived impact on performing these activities. Also, our aim was to estimate the required and received assistance for household chores. In an interview study via telephone, 124 patients with moderate-to-severe RA, visiting a tertiary-level dermatological clinic, listed spontaneously without predefined list the household chores and leisure-time activities that they considered were particularly affected by the RA. Ability to perform household chores and leisure-time activities were asked. The need for outside assistance with household chores and help received were also determined. Rheumatoid arthritis affected wide range of everyday household activities, with tasks related to cleaning of the house mentioned most often. Eleven of the categories out of 16 were similar to those included in the HAQ index. The majority of the patients (84.6 %) reported disadvantage in performing household chores because of RA. More than half of the patients (55.7 %) received assistance with household chores, women significantly more often than men (69.0 vs. 26.3 %, p Leisure-time activities listed by respondents as affected by RA were mostly related to sport. The majority of patients (77.2 %) had either reduced or completely given up at least one leisure-time activity. When estimating the total burden of the disease, the impact on both household chores and leisure-time activities should be taken into account.

The rise of Asian sovereign wealth funds

OpenAIRE

Borst, Nicholas

2015-01-01

This Asia Focus provides an overview of sovereign wealth funds, evaluates the structure and activities of major funds in Asia, and compares the transparency of Asian funds relative to international best practices.

Interferon-gamma release assay and Rifampicin therapy for household contacts of tuberculosis.

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Wang, Jann-Yuan; Shu, Chin-Chung; Lee, Chih-Hsin; Yu, Chong-Jen; Lee, Li-Na; Yang, Pan-Chyr

2012-03-01

Longitudinal studies in household contacts to identify subgroups at risk of active tuberculosis are lacking. Household contacts of pulmonary tuberculosis patients were prospectively enrolled to receive chest radiography, sputum studies, and T-SPOT.TB assay at initial visit. Repeat examinations every 6 months for 3 years, and 4-month rifampin preventive therapy for T-SPOT.TB-positive contacts were provided. We investigated factors predicting T-SPOT.TB-positivity and active pulmonary tuberculosis. 583 contacts were enrolled with a follow-up duration of 20.7 ± 9.4 months. 176 (30.2%) were T-SPOT.TB-positive initially and 32 (18.2%) of them received preventive therapy. Old age, living in the same room/house with the index case, the index case having a high smear grade (3+ ∼ 4+) and pulmonary cavitation were associated with T-SPOT.TB-positivity. Active tuberculosis developed in 9 T-SPOT.TB-positive contacts; risk factors included T-SPOT.TB-positivity without preventive therapy, living in the same room, and the index case being ≤50 years or female. 108 (61.4%) T-SPOT.TB-positive contacts had repeat examinations. Forty-five had T-SPOT.TB reversion and none of them developed active tuberculosis. Household contacts who are T-SPOT.TB-positive and live in the same room as the index case are at risk of active tuberculosis and require preventive therapy and close follow-up. Copyright © 2011 The British Infection Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impacts of community-based natural resource management on wealth, food security and child health in Tanzania

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pailler, Sharon; Naidoo, Robin; Burgess, Neil David

2015-01-01

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is a major global strategy for enhancing conservation outcomes while also seeking to improve rural livelihoods; however, little evidence of socioeconomic outcomes exists. We present a national-level analysis that empirically estimates socioecono......Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is a major global strategy for enhancing conservation outcomes while also seeking to improve rural livelihoods; however, little evidence of socioeconomic outcomes exists. We present a national-level analysis that empirically estimates...... socioeconomic impacts of CBNRM across Tanzania, while systematically controlling for potential sources of bias. Specifically, we apply a difference-indifferences model to national-scale, cross-sectional data to estimate the impact of three different CBNRM governance regimes on wealth, food security and child...... health, considering differential impacts of CBNRM on wealthy and poor populations. We also explore whether or not longer-standing CBNRM efforts provide more benefits than recently-established CBNRM areas. Our results show significant improvements in household food security in CBNRM areas compared...

DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS, DEFINED BENEFIT PLANS, AND THE ACCUMULATION OF RETIREMENT WEALTH

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Poterba, James; Rauh, Joshua; Venti, Steven; Wise, David

2010-01-01

The private pension structure in the United States, once dominated by defined benefit (DB) plans, is currently divided between defined contribution (DC) and DB plans. Wealth accumulation in DC plans depends on the participant's contribution behavior and on financial market returns, while accumulation in DB plans is sensitive to a participant's labor market experience and to plan parameters. This paper simulates the distribution of retirement wealth under representative DB and DC plans. It uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to explore how asset returns, earnings histories, and retirement plan characteristics contribute to the variation in retirement wealth outcomes. We simulate DC plan accumulation by randomly assigning individuals a share of wages that they and their employer contribute to the plan. We consider several possible asset allocation strategies, with asset returns drawn from the historical return distribution. Our DB plan simulations draw earnings histories from the HRS, and randomly assign each individual a pension plan drawn from a sample of large private and public defined benefit plans. The simulations yield distributions of both DC and DB wealth at retirement. Average retirement wealth accruals under current DC plans exceed average accruals under private sector DB plans, although DC plans are also more likely to generate very low retirement wealth outcomes. The comparison of current DC plans with more generous public sector DB plans is less definitive, because public sector DB plans are more generous on average than their private sector counterparts. PMID:21057597

Dental Usage Under Changing Economic Conditions

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Manski, Richard J.; Moeller, John F.; Chen, Haiyan; Schimmel, Jody; St Clair, Patricia A.; Pepper, John V.

2012-01-01

Objective The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between changes in household finances (wealth and income) and changes in dental utilization at the onset of the recent recession in a population of older Americans. Methods Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were analyzed for U.S. individuals aged 51 years and older during the 2006 and 2008 waves of the HRS. We estimated logistic models of (1) starting and (2) stopping dental use between 2006 and 2008 survey periods as a function of changes in household wealth and income, controlling for other potentially confounding covariates. Results We found that only when household wealth falls by 50 percent or more were older adults less likely to seek dental care. Changes in household income and other changes in household wealth were not associated with changes in dental utilization among this population. Conclusions Older Americans’ dental care utilization appeared to be fairly resilient to changes in household finances; only when wealth fell by 50 percent or more did individuals decrease dental use. This finding might extend to other health care services that are preventive, routine, and relatively inexpensive. PMID:22994647

Household Finance

OpenAIRE

Campbell, John

2006-01-01

The welfare benefits of financial markets depend in large part on how effectively households use these markets. The study of household finance is challenging because household behavior is difficult to measure accurately, and because households face constraints that are not captured by textbook models, including fixed costs, uninsurable income risk, borrowing constraints, and contracts that are non-neutral with respect to inflation. Evidence on participation, diversification, and the exercise ...

Tuberculosis case finding in first-degree relative contacts not living with index tuberculosis cases in Kampala, Uganda

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Chheng P

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Phalkun Chheng,1,2 Mary Nsereko,2 LaShaunda L Malone,2 Brenda Okware,2 Sarah Zalwango,2 Moses Joloba,2,3 W Henry Boom,2 Ezekiel Mupere,1,2,4 Catherine M Stein1,2 On behalf of the Tuberculosis Research Unit 1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; 2Uganda-Case Western Reserve University Research Collaboration, 3Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; 4Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda Purpose: To assess the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis among first-degree relative (FDR contacts not living with tuberculosis (TB cases. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of household contacts living with an index TB case and FDR contacts living outside of households in Kampala, Uganda, is presented. Results: A total of 177 contacts (52 FDRs and 125 index household contacts of 31 TB cases were examined. Compared with index household contacts, FDR contacts were older, more likely to be TB symptomatic (50% vs 33%, had a higher percentage of abnormal chest X-rays (19% vs 11%, sputum smear positive (15% vs 5%, and many similar epidemiologic risk factors, including HIV infection (13% vs 10%. Contact groups had similar pulmonary tuberculosis prevalence: 9.6% in FDR vs 10.4% in index household contacts and similar Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection: 62% in FDR vs 61% in index households. Conclusion: TB is common among FDR contacts. High TB prevalence justifies targeting FDRs during household contact investigations. Combining TB active-case finding among FDR contacts with household contact investigation in low-income setting is feasible. This should be part of national TB control program strategies for increasing TB case-detection rates and reducing community TB transmission and death. Keywords: prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis, limited resource setting, contact tracing

Household Socioeconomic and Demographic Correlates of Cryptosporidium Seropositivity in the United States.

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Daniel J Becker

Full Text Available Cryptosporidium are parasitic protozoa that infect humans, domestic animals, and wildlife globally. In the United States, cryptosporidiosis occurs in an estimated 750,000 persons annually, and is primarily caused by either of the Cryptosporidium parvum genotypes 1 and 2, exposure to which occurs through ingestion of food or water contaminated with oocytes shed from infected hosts. Although most cryptosporidiosis cases are caused by genotype 1 and are of human origin, the zoonotic sources of genotype 2, such as livestock, are increasingly recognized as important for understanding human disease patterns. Social inequality could mediate patterns of human exposure and infection by placing individuals in environments where food or water contamination and livestock contact is high or through reducing the availability of educational and sanitary resources required to avoid exposure.We here analyzed data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES between 1999 and 2000, and related seropositivity to Cryptosporidium parvum to correlates of social inequality at the household and individual scale. After accounting for the complex sampling design of NHANES and confounding by individual demographics and household conditions, we found impaired household food adequacy was associated with greater odds of Cryptosporidium seropositivity. Additionally, we identified individuals of non-white race and ethnicity and those born outside the United States as having significantly greater risk than white, domestic-born counterparts. Furthermore, we provide suggestive evidence for direct effects of family wealth on Cryptosporidium seropositivity, in that persons from low-income households and from families close to the poverty threshold had elevated odds of seropositivity relative to those in high-income families and in households far above the poverty line.These results refute assertions that cryptosporidiosis in the United States is independent of

78 FR 12358 - UBS Financial Services, Inc., Wealth Management Americas Operations, Including On-Site Leased...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-22

..., Inc., Wealth Management Americas Operations, Including On-Site Leased Workers From Leafstone... Services, Inc., Wealth Management Americas Operations (UBS), Weehawken, New Jersey. The workers are engaged... to include all leased workers on-site at UBS Financial Services, Inc., Wealth Management Americas...

Disparities in children’s vocabulary and height in relation to household wealth and parental schooling: A longitudinal study in four low- and middle-income countries

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Sarah A. Reynolds

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Children from low socio-economic status (SES households often demonstrate worse growth and developmental outcomes than wealthier children, in part because poor children face a broader range of risk factors. It is difficult to characterize the trajectories of SES disparities in low- and middle-income countries because longitudinal data are infrequently available. We analyze measures of children’s linear growth (height at ages 1, 5, 8 and 12y and receptive language (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test at ages 5, 8 and 12y in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam in relation to household SES, measured by parental schooling or household assets. We calculate children’s percentile ranks within the distributions of height-for-age z-scores and of age- and language-standardized receptive vocabulary scores. We find that children in the top quartile of household SES are taller and have better language performance than children in the bottom quartile; differences in vocabulary scores between children with high and low SES are larger than differences in the height measure. For height, disparities in SES are present by age 1y and persist as children age. For vocabulary, SES disparities also emerge early in life, but patterns are not consistent across age; for example, SES disparities are constant over time in India, widen between 5 and 12y in Ethiopia, and narrow in this age range in Vietnam and Peru. Household characteristics (such as mother’s height, age, and ethnicity, and community fixed effects explain most of the disparities in height and around half of the disparities in vocabulary. We also find evidence that SES disparities in height and language development may not be fixed over time, suggesting opportunities for policy and programs to address these gaps early in life.

Doing More with Less The New Way to Wealth

CERN Document Server

Piasecki, Bruce

2012-01-01

"Bruce Piasecki redefines what winning looks like for all of us."-GERALD BRESNICK, Vice President of Environment, Health & Safety and Social Responsibility, Hess "Bruce Piasecki has created a book about discovering and maintaining wealth that, in fact, redefines wealth itself to include much more than mere numbers in a bank account." -JAY PARINI, bestselling author of The Last Station and The Passages of H.M. "Bruce Piasecki is one of the few thinkers really upping the ante for leaders in business and society."-JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER, bestselling author of The Long Emergency and The Geograph

Screening Household Members of Acute Brucellosis Cases in Endemic Areas and Risk Factors for Brucellosis.

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Deniz, Secil; Baykam, Nurcan; Celikbas, Aysel; Yilmaz, Sirin Menekse; Guzel, Tugba Cirkin; Dokuzoguz, Basak; Ergonul, Onder

2015-08-01

Early diagnosis and treatment of acute brucellosis cases were targeted by screening the household members of the index cases. We also aimed to describe the causal relations of brucellosis in an endemic region. A cross-sectional study was performed among household members (29 index cases, 113 household members). Brucellosis was diagnosed on the basis of clinical findings, serum agglutinin titer of ≥1/160 in standard tube agglutination test (STA), or a positive blood culture. Index cases were defined as patients who had been admitted to the clinic on suspicion of brucellosis and then confirmed as brucellosis cases. The people who lived in the same house as the index cases were defined as household members. The risk factors for seropositivity were studied by multivariate analysis. Independent variables of gender, consuming fresh cheese, blood groups, dealing with husbandry, and contact with the placenta of infected animals were included to the model. Backward and forward selections were performed. Nineteen out of 113 (17%) screened individuals had agglutination titers ≥1/160. The mean ages of index cases and household members were 43 years (standard deviation [SD] 18) and 29 years (SD 19), respectively. In multivariate analysis, consuming fresh cheese (odds ratio [OR]=3.1, confidence interval [CI] 1.07-9.68, p=0.049), blood group A (OR=2.6, CI 1.18-5.96, p=0.018), contact with the placenta of the infected animals (OR=3.7, CI 1.42-9.68, p=0.007), and age >30 years (OR=2.8, CI 1.25-6.51, p=0.13) were found to be associated with brucellosis. In univariate analysis, the individuals with blood group B were protected from brucella infection (p=0.013). In conclusion, screening of the people in brucellosis-endemic areas should be considered for early diagnosis and treatment. To our knowledge, blood groups were studied for the first time by this study. Higher prevalence of brucellosis among the individuals with blood group A and less prevalence among the individuals with

Perceptions of national wealth and skill influence pay expectations: replicating global hierarchy on a microscale.

Science.gov (United States)

Maitner, Angela T; DeCoster, Jamie

2015-01-01

In highly multicultural societies, the economic status hierarchy may come to mimic the hierarchy of global wealth, reinforcing social inequality by tying pay scales to national wealth. We investigated how nationality influences expectations of payment in the UAE. Participants reported how much they expected people to be paid and how much skill they were perceived to have by nationality. They also reported their perceptions of the national wealth of different countries. Participants generally expected Westerners to be paid more than Arabs, who would be paid more than Sub-Saharan Africans and Asians. Expectations about payment in private sector employment were driven by both actual and stereotyped differences in national wealth and skill, with non-Gulf Cooperation Council Arabs most likely to see national wealth as a factor explaining the economic hierarchy. These results suggest that people expect payment to be tied to national wealth, reflecting the global hierarchy on a microscale.

Household Chemical Emergencies

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... Content Home Be Informed Household Chemical Emergencies Household Chemical Emergencies Although the risk of a chemical accident ... reduce the risk of injury. Before a Household Chemical Emergency It is critical to store household chemicals ...

Catastrophic household expenditure on health in Nepal: a cross-sectional survey.

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Saito, Eiko; Gilmour, Stuart; Rahman, Md Mizanur; Gautam, Ghan Shyam; Shrestha, Pradeep Krishna; Shibuya, Kenji

2014-10-01

To determine the incidence of - and illnesses commonly associated with - catastrophic household expenditure on health in Nepal. We did a cross-sectional population-based survey in five municipalities of Kathmandu Valley between November 2011 and January 2012. For each household surveyed, out-of-pocket spending on health in the previous 30 days that exceeded 10% of the household's total expenditure over the same period was considered to be catastrophic. We estimated the incidence and intensity of catastrophic health expenditure. We identified the illnesses most commonly associated with such expenditure using a Poisson regression model and assessed the distribution of expenditure by economic quintile of households using the concentration index. Overall, 284 of the 1997 households studied in Kathmandu, i.e. 13.8% after adjustment by sampling weight, reported catastrophic health expenditure in the 30 days before the survey. After adjusting for confounders, this expenditure was found to be associated with injuries, particularly those resulting from road traffic accidents. Catastrophic expenditure by households in the poorest quintile were associated with at least one episode of diabetes, asthma or heart disease. In an urban area of Nepal, catastrophic household expenditure on health was mostly associated with injuries and noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and asthma. Throughout Nepal, interventions for the control and management of noncommunicable diseases and the prevention of road traffic accidents should be promoted. A phased introduction of health insurance should also reduce the incidence of catastrophic household expenditure.

Households with a stunted child and obese mother: trends and child feeding practices in a middle-income country, 1992-2008.

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Aitsi-Selmi, Amina

2015-06-01

Middle-income countries in the intermediate stages of the nutrition transition are facing a complex picture of nutrition-related diseases with child stunting and maternal obesity coexisting within single households (SCOB). A debate exists as to whether SCOB is a true phenomenon or a statistical artefact. In this study, we examine time trends and determinants of SCOB in Egypt and test the hypothesis that increased child sugary snack consumption, and reduced fruit/vegetable consumption (markers of poor dietary diversity) are associated with SCOB. Data on 25,065 mothers and their children from the Egyptian Demographic and Health Surveys from 1992, 1995, 2005 and 2008 are used to examine trends in child stunting, maternal obesity and child-mother household type [normal/non-obese, stunted/non-obese, normal/obese, stunted/obese (SCOB)]. The association of child sugary snack and fruit/vegetable consumption with household type is also examined using multinomial logistic regression adjusting for maternal age, maternal education, child age, breastfeeding, household wealth and urban/rural residence. The prevalence of SCOB increased between the periods 1992/95 and 2005/08 despite reductions in stunting levels. This increase paralleled a rise in maternal obesity. Child sugary snack consumption was associated with higher odds (51 %) of belonging to a SCOB household compared with normal/non-obese households, while fruit/vegetable consumption was associated with lower odds (24 %). The results suggest the existence of a link between the rise in maternal obesity and an increase in SCOB, and an association between child sugary snack consumption and SCOB. Addressing SCOB may require a household-rather than individual-based approach to nutrition.

Leprosy reactions: the effect of gender and household contacts

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Giuseppe Mastrangelo

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Various host-related factors have been reported as relevant risk factors for leprosy reactions. To support a new hypothesis that an antigenic load in local tissues that is sufficient to trigger the immune response may come from an external supply of Mycobacterium leprae organisms, the prevalence of reactional leprosy was assessed against the number of household contacts. The number of contacts was ascertained at diagnosis in leprosy patients coming from an endemic area of Brazil. The prevalence of reactions (patients with reactions/total patients was fitted by binomial regression and the risk difference (RD was estimated with a semi-robust estimation of variance as a measure of effect. Five regression models were fitted. Model 1 included only the main exposure variable "number of household contacts"; model 2 included all four explanatory variables ("contacts", "fertile age", "number of skin lesions" and "bacillary index" that were found to be associated with the outcome upon univariate analysis; models 3-5 contained various combinations of three predictors. Male and female patients were analyzed separately. In females, household contacts were a significant predictor for leprosy reactions in model 1 [crude RD = 0.06; 95% confidence interval (CI = 0.01; 0.12] and model 5 (RD = 0.05; CI = 0.02; 0.09, which included contacts, bacillary index and skin lesions as predictors. Other models were unsatisfactory because the joint presence of fertile age and bacillary index was a likely source of multicollinearity. No significant results were obtained for males. The likely interpretation of our findings might suggest that in female patients, leprosy reactions may be triggered by an external spreading of M. leprae by healthy carrier family members. The small number of observations is an obvious limitation of our study which requires larger confirmatory studies.

Associations Between County Wealth, Health and Social Services Spending, and Health Outcomes.

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McCullough, J Mac; Leider, Jonathon P

2017-11-01

Each year, the County Health Rankings rate the health outcomes of each county in the U.S. A common refrain is that poor counties perform worse than wealthier ones. This article examines that assumption and specifically analyzes characteristics of counties that have performed better in terms of health outcomes than their wealth alone would suggest. Data from the 2013 County Health Rankings were used, as were 2012 financial and demographic information collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. A logistic model was constructed to examine the odds of a county "overperforming" in the rankings relative to community wealth. Analyses were performed in 2016. Communities that were wealthier performed better on the rankings. However, more than 800 of 3,141 counties overperformed by ranking in a better health outcomes quartile than their county's wealth alone would suggest. Regression analyses found that for each additional percentage point of total public spending that was allocated toward community health care and public health, the odds of being an overperformer increased by 3.7%. Community wealth correlates with health, but not always. Population health outcomes in hundreds of counties overperform what would be expected given community wealth alone. These counties tend to invest more in community health care and public health spending and other social services. Although the level of a community's wealth is outside the control of practitioners, shifting the proportion of spending to certain social services may positively impact population health. Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Simple wealth distribution model causing inequality-induced crisis without external shocks

Science.gov (United States)

Benisty, Henri

2017-05-01

We address the issue of the dynamics of wealth accumulation and economic crisis triggered by extreme inequality, attempting to stick to most possibly intrinsic assumptions. Our general framework is that of pure or modified multiplicative processes, basically geometric Brownian motions. In contrast with the usual approach of injecting into such stochastic agent models either specific, idiosyncratic internal nonlinear interaction patterns or macroscopic disruptive features, we propose a dynamic inequality model where the attainment of a sizable fraction of the total wealth by very few agents induces a crisis regime with strong intermittency, the explicit coupling between the richest and the rest being a mere normalization mechanism, hence with minimal extrinsic assumptions. The model thus harnesses the recognized lack of ergodicity of geometric Brownian motions. It also provides a statistical intuition to the consequences of Thomas Piketty's recent "r >g " (return rate > growth rate) paradigmatic analysis of very-long-term wealth trends. We suggest that the "water-divide" of wealth flow may define effective classes, making an objective entry point to calibrate the model. Consistently, we check that a tax mechanism associated to a few percent relative bias on elementary daily transactions is able to slow or stop the build-up of large wealth. When extreme fluctuations are tamed down to a stationary regime with sizable but steadier inequalities, it should still offer opportunities to study the dynamics of crisis and the inner effective classes induced through external or internal factors.

EFFECT OF COMMERCIALIZATION ON PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY AMONG CASSAVA PRODUCING HOUSEHOLDS IN IKWUANO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ABIA STATE, NIGERIA

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Ogbonnaya Ukeh OTEH

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The study investigated factors affecting commercialization of cassava producing household in Ikwuano Local Government Area, Abia State, Nigeria. It specifically examined the socio-economic characteristics of cassava household; determine commercialization index and analyzed factors that influence commercialization among cassava producing households. The study employed purposive sampling technique in the selection of 120 respondents from one local government area (LGA based on characteristics of interest, nearness and other related features. The selection was done from 6 communities at the rate of 20 respondents per community. Analytically, descriptive statistics, household commercialization index (HCI, and multiple regression analysis were used. The results showed that the mean age of the cassava producing household was about 40 years with a mean farming experience of 14 years. They are mostly married with an average of 5 persons per households. The result further revealed that only a few households (less than 2% have very high commercialization orientation, which exposes the level of farming in the area. With respect to determinants of factors that influence commercialization, value of output, farm size, sex, nearness to market, membership of cooperative and farming experience were significant and found to exhibit varying degree. The study therefore recommends that support policies that sustain and improve the productivity among farming household especially land tenure policy issues, greater incentives policies for farmers in the rural areas; linkages between farm households and the markets; increase access and exchange of information on markets.

Poverty Analysis of Children in Child Headed Households in Addis ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study attempts to analyse the economic and social situation of children living in child‐headed households using a poverty analysis framework. The study used family of indexes developed by Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (1984) commonly known as FGT measures to measure aggregate poverty and micro‐econometric ...

Educational and wealth inequalities in tobacco use among men and women in 54 low-income and middle-income countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Sreeramareddy, Chandrashekhar T; Harper, Sam; Ernstsen, Linda

2018-01-01

Socioeconomic differentials of tobacco smoking in high-income countries are well described. However, studies to support health policies and place monitoring systems to tackle socioeconomic inequalities in smoking and smokeless tobacco use common in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) are seldom reported. We aimed to describe, sex-wise, educational and wealth-related inequalities in tobacco use in LMICs. We analysed Demographic and Health Survey data on tobacco use collected from large nationally representative samples of men and women in 54 LMICs. We estimated the weighted prevalence of any current tobacco use (including smokeless tobacco) in each country for 4 educational groups and 4 wealth groups. We calculated absolute and relative measures of inequality, that is, the slope index of inequality (SII) and relative index of inequality (RII), which take into account the distribution of prevalence across all education and wealth groups and account for population size. We also calculated the aggregate SII and RII for low-income (LIC), lower-middle-income (lMIC) and upper-middle-income (uMIC) countries as per World Bank classification. Male tobacco use was highest in Bangladesh (70.3%) and lowest in Sao Tome (7.4%), whereas female tobacco use was highest in Madagascar (21%) and lowest in Tajikistan (0.22%). Among men, educational inequalities varied widely between countries, but aggregate RII and SII showed an inverse trend by country wealth groups. RII was 3.61 (95% CI 2.83 to 4.61) in LICs, 1.99 (95% CI 1.66 to 2.38) in lMIC and 1.82 (95% CI 1.24 to 2.67) in uMIC. Wealth inequalities among men varied less between countries, but RII and SII showed an inverse pattern where RII was 2.43 (95% CI 2.05 to 2.88) in LICs, 1.84 (95% CI 1.54 to 2.21) in lMICs and 1.67 (95% CI 1.15 to 2.42) in uMICs. For educational inequalities among women, the RII varied much more than SII varied between the countries, and the aggregate RII was 14.49 (95% CI 8.87 to 23.68) in LICs, 3

Perceptions of national wealth and skill influence pay expectations: replicating global hierarchy on a microscale

Science.gov (United States)

Maitner, Angela T.; DeCoster, Jamie

2015-01-01

In highly multicultural societies, the economic status hierarchy may come to mimic the hierarchy of global wealth, reinforcing social inequality by tying pay scales to national wealth. We investigated how nationality influences expectations of payment in the UAE. Participants reported how much they expected people to be paid and how much skill they were perceived to have by nationality. They also reported their perceptions of the national wealth of different countries. Participants generally expected Westerners to be paid more than Arabs, who would be paid more than Sub-Saharan Africans and Asians. Expectations about payment in private sector employment were driven by both actual and stereotyped differences in national wealth and skill, with non-Gulf Cooperation Council Arabs most likely to see national wealth as a factor explaining the economic hierarchy. These results suggest that people expect payment to be tied to national wealth, reflecting the global hierarchy on a microscale. PMID:26074852

The evolution of income inequality and relative poverty in Italy: 1987-2010

OpenAIRE

BIAGI FEDERICO; CASALONE Giorgia

2012-01-01

In this paper we study the evolution of poverty and inequality in Italy in the period 1987-2010. Our data are from the Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth and the variable of interest is real income (reference year is 2009), defined using price indexes that are allowed to vary by region and that allow us to make comparisons in levels of real incomes. We construct relative poverty and inequality indexes using equivalent income obtained by applying two types of equivalence scale...

Modes of transmission of influenza B virus in households.

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Benjamin J Cowling

Full Text Available While influenza A and B viruses can be transmitted via respiratory droplets, the importance of small droplet nuclei "aerosols" in transmission is controversial.In Hong Kong and Bangkok, in 2008-11, subjects were recruited from outpatient clinics if they had recent onset of acute respiratory illness and none of their household contacts were ill. Following a positive rapid influenza diagnostic test result, subjects were randomly allocated to one of three household-based interventions: hand hygiene, hand hygiene plus face masks, and a control group. Index cases plus their household contacts were followed for 7-10 days to identify secondary infections by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR testing of respiratory specimens. Index cases with RT-PCR-confirmed influenza B were included in the present analyses. We used a mathematical model to make inferences on the modes of transmission, facilitated by apparent differences in clinical presentation of secondary infections resulting from aerosol transmission. We estimated that approximately 37% and 26% of influenza B virus transmission was via the aerosol mode in households in Hong Kong and Bangkok, respectively. In the fitted model, influenza B virus infections were associated with a 56%-72% risk of fever plus cough if infected via aerosol route, and a 23%-31% risk of fever plus cough if infected via the other two modes of transmission.Aerosol transmission may be an important mode of spread of influenza B virus. The point estimates of aerosol transmission were slightly lower for influenza B virus compared to previously published estimates for influenza A virus in both Hong Kong and Bangkok. Caution should be taken in interpreting these findings because of the multiple assumptions inherent in the model, including that there is limited biological evidence to date supporting a difference in the clinical features of influenza B virus infection by different modes.

The Relationship between Livestock Ownership and Child Stunting in Three Countries in Eastern Africa Using National Survey Data.

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Mosites, Emily M; Rabinowitz, Peter M; Thumbi, Samuel M; Montgomery, Joel M; Palmer, Guy H; May, Susanne; Rowhani-Rahbar, Ali; Neuhouser, Marian L; Walson, Judd L

2015-01-01

Livestock ownership has the potential to improve child nutrition through various mechanisms, although direct evaluations of household livestock and child stunting status are uncommon. We conducted an analysis of Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets from Ethiopia (2011), Kenya (2008-2009), and Uganda (2010) among rural children under 5 years of age to compare stunting status across levels of livestock ownership. We classified livestock ownership by summing reported household numbers of goats, sheep, cattle and chickens, as well as calculating a weighted score to combine multiple species. The primary association was assessed separately by country using a log-binomial model adjusted for wealth and region, which was then stratified by child diarrheal illness, animal-source foods intake, sub-region, and wealth index. This analysis included n = 8079 children from Ethiopia, n = 3903 children from Kenya, and n = 1645 from Uganda. A ten-fold increase in household livestock ownership had significant association with lower stunting prevalence in Ethiopia (Prevalence Ratio [PR] 0.95, 95% CI 0.92-0.98) and Uganda (PR 0.87, 95% CI 0.79-0.97), but not Kenya (PR 1.01, 95% CI 0.96-1.07). The weighted livestock score was only marginally associated with stunting status. The findings varied slightly by region, but not by wealth, diarrheal disease, or animal-source food intake. This analysis suggested a slightly beneficial effect of household livestock ownership on child stunting prevalence. The small effect size observed may be related to limitations of the DHS dataset or the potentially complicated relationship between malnutrition and livestock ownership, including livestock health and productivity.

The Differential Impact of Wealth versus Income in the College-Going Process

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Jez, Su Jin

2014-01-01

College is increasingly essential for economic and social mobility. Current research and public policy devotes significant attention to race, income, and socioeconomic factors in college access. Yet, wealth's role, as differentiated from income, is largely unexplored. This paper examines the differences between wealth and income in the…

New composite distributions for modeling industrial income and wealth per employee

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Wiegand, Martin; Nadarajah, Saralees

2018-02-01

Forbes Magazine offers an annual list of the 2000 largest publicly traded companies, shedding light on four different measurements: Sales, profits, market value and assets held. Soriano-Hernández et al. (2017) modeled these wealth metrics using composite distributions made up of two parts. In this note, we introduce different composite distributions to more accurately describe the spread of these wealth metrics.

Simulating the wealth distribution with a Richest-Following strategy on scale-free network

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Hu, Mao-Bin; Jiang, Rui; Wu, Qing-Song; Wu, Yong-Hong

2007-07-01

In this paper, we investigate the wealth distribution with agents playing evolutionary games on a scale-free social network adopting the Richest-Following strategy. Pareto's power-law distribution (1897) of wealth is demonstrated with power factor in agreement with that of US or Japan. Moreover, the agent's personal wealth is proportional to its number of contacts (connectivity), and this leads to the phenomenon that the rich gets richer and the poor gets relatively poorer, which agrees with the Matthew Effect.

The leverage effect on wealth distribution in a controllable laboratory stock market.

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Zhu, Chenge; Yang, Guang; An, Kenan; Huang, Jiping

2014-01-01

Wealth distribution has always been an important issue in our economic and social life, since it affects the harmony and stabilization of the society. Under the background of widely used financial tools to raise leverage these years, we studied the leverage effect on wealth distribution of a population in a controllable laboratory market in which we have conducted several human experiments, and drawn the conclusion that higher leverage leads to a higher Gini coefficient in the market. A higher Gini coefficient means the wealth distribution among a population becomes more unequal. This is a result of the ascending risk with growing leverage level in the market plus the diversified trading abilities and risk preference of the participants. This work sheds light on the effects of leverage and its related regulations, especially its impact on wealth distribution. It also shows the capability of the method of controllable laboratory markets which could be helpful in several fields of study such as economics, econophysics and sociology.

IQ and the Wealth of States

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Kanazawa, Satoshi

2006-01-01

In "IQ and the Wealth of Nations" (2002), Lynn and Vanhanen estimate the mean IQs of 185 nations and demonstrate that national IQs strongly correlate with the macroeconomic performance of the nations, explaining about half of the variance in GDP per capita. I seek to replicate Lynn and Vanhanen's results across states within the United…

Household Financial Contribution to the Health System in Shiraz, Iran in 2012

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Zahra Kavosi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Background One common challenge to social systems is achieving equity in financial contributions and preventing financial loss. Because of the large and unpredictable nature of some costs, achieving this goal in the health system presents important and unique problems. The present study investigated the Household Financial Contributions (HFCs to the health system. Methods The study investigated 800 households in Shiraz. The study sample size was selected using stratified sampling and cluster sampling in the urban and rural regions, respectively. The data was collected using the household section of the World Health Survey (WHS questionnaire. Catastrophic health expenditures were calculated based on the ability of the household to pay and the reasons for the catastrophic health expenditures by a household were specified using logistic regression. Results The results showed that the fairness financial contribution index was 0.6 and that 14.2% of households were faced with catastrophic health expenditures. Logistic regression analysis revealed that household economic status, the basic and supplementary insurance status of the head of the household, existence of individuals in the household who require chronic medical care, use of dental and hospital care, rural location of residences, frequency of use of outpatient services, and Out-of-Pocket (OOP payment for physician visits were effective factors for determining the likelihood of experiencing catastrophic health expenditure. Conclusion It appears that the current method of health financing in Iran does not adequately protect households against catastrophic health expenditure. Consequently, it is essential to reform healthcare financing.

Prevalence of Tuberculosis among Household Contacts in Pondicherry: Active Case Finding Among New Smear Positive Cases

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Kumar VA

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The risk of transmission from the index case to its contacts is more in case of smear positive Pulmonary Tuberculosis cases. Any delay in diagnosis and treatment increases the risk of disease transmission to their contacts. Contact screening is important for early detection of transmission of infection. Thus, active case finding of TB is needed to identify the case yield among household contacts. This study will yield the burden of Tuberculosis among the household contact. Objective: To identify the TB suspect and estimate the prevalence of TB among household contacts. Material and Methods: A two stage cross study was done in 472 households of 157 ‘Index cases’ registered in the State Tuberculosis Unit, Puducherry. The study duration was one year and eight months. Data was entered and analyzed by using Epi_Info (Version 3.4.3 software package. Results: A total of 96 (20.3% symptomatic was found from the 472 households contacts who participated in this study. Out of 90 symptomatics, 70 (72.9% were symptomatic within two months of visit and 26 (27.1% were found to have symptoms after eight months. The overall prevalence of tuberculosis in symptomatic household contacts was 4.3% and all tuberculosis confirmed cases were found at the end of in second month only. Conclusion: Considering the prevalence tuberculosis among the symptomatic of household contact to be 4.3%, their investigation to rule out TB in earlier stages is a need. It may help prevent further spread of M. tuberculosis infection in the local community.

Mumps vaccine effectiveness in primary schools and households, the Netherlands, 2008.

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Snijders, Bianca E P; van Lier, Alies; van de Kassteele, Jan; Fanoy, Ewout B; Ruijs, Wilhelmina L M; Hulshof, Folkwin; Blauwhof, Annet; Schipper, Maarten; van Binnendijk, Rob; Boot, Hein J; de Melker, Hester E; Hahné, Susan J M

2012-04-19

To estimate the mumps vaccine effectiveness (VE) during a large genotype D mumps outbreak, we conducted a cross-sectional study in eight primary schools and associated households in the Netherlands. Questionnaires were used to collect information on the occurrence of mumps. Multivariate analyses were used to estimate VE. Among schoolchildren we estimated the VE against mumps. Among household contacts where the schoolchild was the index case we estimated the VE against mumps and against mumps infectiousness. In total 1175 children and 2281 household contacts participated in the study. The mumps attack rate among schoolchildren was 17%. The mumps VE in schoolchildren was 92% [95% confidence interval (CI) 83-96%] and 93% [85-97%] for one and two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, respectively. The adjusted mumps VE among household contacts was 67% [65-95%] and 11% [-4 to 88%] against mumps and mumps infectiousness, respectively. Our study indicates that the mumps component of the MMR vaccine offered adequate protection against mumps among schoolchildren. The relatively low VE among household contacts is of concern. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

44 CFR 206.110 - Federal assistance to individuals and households.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... emergency. FEMA will adjust the $25,000 limit annually to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for All Urban Consumers that the Department of Labor publishes. (c) Multiple types of assistance. One..., convenience to the individuals and households and the suitability and availability of the types of assistance...

Vulnerability Assessment of Rural Households to Urmia Lake Drying (the Case of Shabestar Region

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Rasoul Maleki

2018-06-01

Full Text Available One of the most important environmental problems in Iran is the destruction and drying of Urmia Lake (UL. UL is one of the main causes of suitable weather for agricultural boom and tourist attraction and it should be considered that the villagers exposed to UL drying have a strong dependence on vulnerable resources such as water, air, soil and plants for their livelihoods and have low adaptive capacity with this crisis for reasons such as poverty, lack of awareness and lack of infrastructure. This study was designed to evaluate the vulnerability of rural households to UL drying in the Shabestar region. The vulnerability was calculated based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC definition and using vulnerability index (VI. Research population included rural households of Shabestar region (N = 19,249 and about 347 households were selected as the research sample using multistage cluster sampling technique. Results showed that the average score of respondents was 0.455 (moderate in exposure, 0.359 (moderate to low in sensitivity, 0.404 (moderate to low in adaptive capacity and finally, the vulnerability index (VI was 0.470 (range of 0 to 1. 12.8% of households had low, 70.5% had medium and 16.7% had high vulnerability towards UL drying.

The Social Form of Wealth as a Dominant in the Development Potential of Modern Macroeconomic Systems

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Silantiev Oleh I.

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The publication is aimed at researching the role of the social form of wealth and its constituents in the development potential of modern macroeconomic systems. The essence of social wealth has been disclosed and the concept of «social form of wealth» has been defined. The ability of social capital to promote materialization of the potential reserves of development of society is characterized, that is caused by its productive value when it develops itself and develops possibilities of increase of other forms of wealth in certain combinations. The ability of social capital to be integrated into a reproduced process at almost any stage of the latter has been determined. Presence of a controversy between the traditional capitalist way of production of wealth (with a focus on the growth of private wealth corporations and post-industrial (which in practice is manifested in the asymmetry of information has been proved. It has been determined that the social capital is considered as an individual property of everyone, which, however, can become a public (collective resource in whole or in part. The importance of the carried out research is an improvement of theoretical approaches to understanding how the volume of social wealth, accumulated by macroeconomic systems, impacts economic-social development. Prospects for further research are an in-depth study of the relationship between the social wealth of macroeconomic systems and the volume of their wealth.

Oseltamivir for treatment and prevention of pandemic influenza A/H1N1 virus infection in households, Milwaukee, 2009

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Miller Joel C

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background During an influenza pandemic, a substantial proportion of transmission is thought to occur in households. We used data on influenza progression in individuals and their contacts collected by the City of Milwaukee Health Department (MHD to study the transmission of pandemic influenza A/H1N1 virus in 362 households in Milwaukee, WI, and the effects of oseltamivir treatment and chemoprophylaxis. Methods 135 households had chronological information on symptoms and oseltamivir usage for all household members. The effect of oseltamivir treatment and other factors on the household secondary attack rate was estimated using univariate and multivariate logistic regression with households as the unit of analysis. The effect of oseltamivir treatment and other factors on the individual secondary attack rate was estimated using univariate and multivariate logistic regression with individual household contacts as the unit of analysis, and a generalized estimating equations approach was used to fit the model to allow for clustering within households. Results Oseltamivir index treatment on onset day or the following day (early treatment was associated with a 42% reduction (OR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.19, 1.73 in the odds of one or more secondary infections in a household and a 50% reduction (OR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.17, 1.46 in the odds of a secondary infection in individual contacts. The confidence bounds are wide due to a small sample of households with early oseltamivir index usage - in 29 such households, 5 had a secondary attack. Younger household contacts were at higher risk of infection (OR: 2.79, 95% CI: 1.50-5.20. Conclusions Early oseltamivir treatment may be beneficial in preventing H1N1pdm influenza transmission; this may have relevance to future control measures for influenza pandemics. Larger randomized trials are needed to confirm this finding statistically.

Yield of facility-based verbal screening amongst household contacts of patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Pakistan

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Ejaz Qadeer

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Household contacts of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB patients are at a high risk of getting infected with TB/MDR-TB, therefore symptomatic or vulnerable individuals should be screened and treated early. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among household contacts of MDR-TB patients in three high-burden TB sites in Pakistan from July 2013 to June 2014. MDR-TB index patients were asked to provide a list of all members of their household and were asked whether any of them had TB symptoms such as productive cough, fever, weight loss and night sweat (“facility-based verbal screening”. Symptomatic contacts were defined as presumptive TB cases and were invited for investigations at the facility. Those who did not come were paid a home-visit. Confirmed TB/MDR-TB patients were registered in the nearest treatment facility. Results: Of 209 MDR-TB index patients, 1467 household contacts were identified and screened, 95 of them children < 5 years. Of these 172 (12% were symptomatic. Most common symptoms were cough 157 (91% and fever 107 (62%. 58 (34% presumptive TB contacts were not investigated. Of total contacts, 56 (3.8% were diagnosed with TB, among them 54(96% with MDR-TB and 2(4% with drug-susceptible-TB. The number needed to screen (NNS to identify a new MDR-TB case among adult household contacts was 27 and among presumptive adult and pediatric TB contacts was three. All 56 confirmed patients were registered for treatment. Conclusion: Screening household contacts of MDR-TB index cases may be considered a feasible and high yield option, in high-burden, low-resource settings within Pakistan. The number of presumptive TB contacts required to screen to identify a new MDR-TB case was unusually low, indicating an effective strategy that could easily be scaled-up. The screening and management of vulnerable adults and children living with patients having TB of any form is a major priority in the combined efforts

Obesity and household food insecurity: evidence from a sample of rural households in Malaysia.

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Shariff, Z Mohd; Khor, G L

2005-09-01

The study examined nutritional outcomes related to body fat accumulation of food insecurity among women from selected rural communities in Malaysia. Cross-sectional study. Rural communities (seven villages and two palm plantations) in a district with high percentage of welfare recipients. Malay (n = 140) and Indian (n = 60) women were interviewed and measured for demographic, socioeconomic, anthropometric, dietary and physical activity information. The women were measured for their body mass index and waist circumference (WC). Energy and nutrient intakes, food group intake and food variety score were analyzed from 24 h dietary recalls and food-frequency questionnaire. Daily physical activity of the women was examined as the number of hours spent in economic, domestic, leisure and sport activities. Using the Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity Instrument, 58% of the women reported some degree of food insecurity (household insecure 14%, adult insecure 9.5% and child hunger 34.5%). In general, food-insecure women had lower years of education, household income and income per capita, more children and mothers as housewives. More than 50% of food-insecure women were overweight and obese than women from food-secure households (38%). Similarly, more food-insecure women (32-47%) had at-risk WC (> or = 88 cm) than food-secure women (29%). Food-insecure women spent significantly more time in domestic and leisure activities than food-secure women. Overweight and abdominal adiposity among the women were associated with a number of independent variables, such as women as housewives, women with more children, larger household size, food insecurity, shorter time spent in economic activities, longer time spent in leisure activities and lower food variety score. After adjusting for factors that are related to both adiposity and food insecurity, women from food-insecure households were significantly more likely to have at-risk WC, but not obese. Among this sample of rural

Wealth-Associated Disparities in Death and Disability in the United States and England.

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Makaroun, Lena K; Brown, Rebecca T; Diaz-Ramirez, L Grisell; Ahalt, Cyrus; Boscardin, W John; Lang-Brown, Sean; Lee, Sei

2017-12-01

Low income has been associated with poor health outcomes. Owing to retirement, wealth may be a better marker of financial resources among older adults. To determine the association of wealth with mortality and disability among older adults in the United States and England. The US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA) are nationally representative cohorts of community-dwelling older adults. We examined 12 173 participants enrolled in HRS and 7599 enrolled in ELSA in 2002. Analyses were stratified by age (54-64 years vs 66-76 years) because many safety-net programs commence around age 65 years. Participants were followed until 2012 for mortality and disability. Wealth quintile, based on total net worth in 2002. Mortality and disability, defined as difficulty performing an activity of daily living. A total of 6233 US respondents and 4325 English respondents aged 54 to 64 years (younger cohort) and 5940 US respondents and 3274 English respondents aged 66 to 76 years (older cohort) were analyzed for the mortality outcome. Slightly over half of respondents were women (HRS: 6570, 54%; ELSA: 3974, 52%). A higher proportion of respondents from HRS were nonwhite compared with ELSA in both the younger (14% vs 3%) and the older (13% vs 3%) age cohorts. We found increased risk of death and disability as wealth decreased. In the United States, participants aged 54 to 64 years in the lowest wealth quintile (Q1) (≤$39 000) had a 17% mortality risk and 48% disability risk over 10 years, whereas in the highest wealth quintile (Q5) (>$560 000) participants had a 5% mortality risk and 15% disability risk (mortality hazard ratio [HR], 3.3; 95% CI, 2.0-5.6; P £310,550) had a 4% mortality risk and 17% disability risk (mortality HR, 4.4; 95% CI, 2.7-7.0; P wealth quintiles were similar. When adjusted for sex, age, race, income, and education, HR for mortality and sHR for disability were attenuated but remained statistically

THE MAYA INDEX ANALYSIS ON DENGUE PATIENT HOUSEHOLD IN BANJAR CITY, 2012

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Pandji Wibawa Dhewantara

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Salah satu faktor risiko kejadian DBD di antaranya adalah ketersediaan kontainer tempat perkembangbiakan vektor. Tahun2012 dilakukan survei observasional analitik dengan pendekatan potong lintang pada 100 rumah penderita DBD di KotaBanjar. Tujuan penelitian untuk mengetahui tingkat risiko penularan DBD melalui pendekatan analisis Maya Index. Datayang dikumpulkan meliputi jenis, jumlah kontainer, dan jumlah kontainer mengandung larva Aedes sp. Kontainer yangditemukan dikategorikan menjadi Controllable Container dan Disposable Container untuk mengetahui Breeding Risk Index(BRI dan Hygene Risk Index (HRI. Analisis deskriptif digunakan untuk mengetahui proporsi jumlah dan jenis kontainer.Maya index diperoleh dari hasil pengkategorian rasio BRI dan HRI. Container Index dan Breteau Index dihitung untukmengetahui kepadatan larva. Hasil pengamatan ditemukan sebanyak 915 kontainer yang terdiri dari jenis controllablecontainers (93% dan disposable containers (7%. Jenis kontainer yang dominan adalah tempayan tanah liat (15,52%, bakair (14,35%, pot bunga (48,47%, dan penampung air pada dispenser (7%. Larva Aedes sp. banyak ditemukan pada bak air(48,57% dan penampung air pada dispenser (22,86%. Sementara, botol bekas (35,3% dan kaleng bekas (26,1%merupakan jenis disposable container yang paling banyak ditemukan. Analisis menunjukkan sebagian besar rumahberkategori BRI tinggi (93% dan HRI rendah (92%. Berdasarkan Maya Index, rumah penderita termasuk dalam kategoririsiko sedang (97% dengan CI dan BI masing-masing sebesar 3,85% dan 35. Studi ini menyimpulkan bahwa sebagian besarrumah penderita masih memiliki potensi penularan infeksi virus Dengue.Kata kunci: DBD, risiko perkembangbiakan larva, kontainer, indeks risiko kebersihan, Maya Index

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEPTIONS OF THE CAUSES OFPOVERTY AND HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS

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W.C.J. Grobler

2016-07-01

Full Text Available As pioneered by Feagin (1972, the literature on the theories of poverty focuses onindividualistic, structural and fatalistic causes of poverty. The individualisticperception blames individuals themselves for their poverty situation. In contrast,the structural perception of poverty blames society for poverty, while the fatalisticperception views poverty asmerely bad luck. Evenalthoughvariouspeople havedifferent perceptions of the causes of poverty, these viewstypically fall into oneof these three categories. People tend to ascribe to these perceptions mostlybecause of their ontological and cosmological views of life, which are influencedby household characteristics. The purpose of this study was to investigate thehousehold characteristics that determine perceptions of household heads withregard to the causes of poverty. Indexes on individualistic, structural and fatalisticperceptions were calculated for each household and used as dependent variables inan Ordinary Least Squares (OLS regression model. The study found that ahousehold head’syears of schooling, grant recipients and food insecurity werestrong predictors of thestructural perception while as regardstheindividualisticperception, the study reporteda positive strong relationship with theage of thehead ofa household, the number of years ofschoolingreceived by the head of thehouseholdwhereas there wasa negative significant relationship withfood insecure households, and also withfemale heads of household. Fatalisticperceptions were stronglypredicted by food insecurity, grant recipients and yearsof schooling of the head of household. The implications of the results are thatpolicy makers need to first understand the perceptions of the poor before comingup with mitigating programmes as the perceptions might influencetheeffectiveness of the interventions.

Estimation of household income diversification in South Africa: A case study of three provinces

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Jabulani Mathebula

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We estimated household income diversification in settlement types of the poorest provinces in South Africa the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. We obtained data from the 2010/2011 Income and Expenditure Survey from Statistics South Africa and Wave 3 data from the National Income Dynamics Study. We used the number of income sources, the number of income earners and the Shannon Diversity Index to estimate income diversification in the study provinces. The results show that households in the traditional and urban formal areas diversified income sources to a greater extent than households in urban informal and rural formal settlements. The varied degrees of income diversification in the three provinces suggest that targeted policy initiatives aimed at enhancing household income are important in these provinces.

Evaluation of socio-economic inequalities in the use of maternal health services in rural western China.

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Li, C; Zeng, L; Dibley, M J; Wang, D; Pei, L; Yan, H

2015-09-01

To describe the use of maternal health services according to the standards of the Chinese Ministry of Health, and assess socio-economic inequalities in usage in rural Shaanxi province, western China. Cross-sectional survey. Principal components analysis was used to measure the economic status of households. A concentration index (CI) approach was used as a measure of socio-economic inequalities in the use of maternal health services, and a decomposable CI was used to identify the factors that contributed to the socio-economic inequalities in usage. In total, 4760 women who had given birth in the preceding three years were selected at random to be interviewed in the five counties. Household wealth index was calculated by constructing a linear index from asset ownership indicators using principal components analysis to derive weights. The CI approach is a standard measure in the analysis of inequalities in health. If the CI for the use of maternal health services is positive, it is pro-rich; if it is negative, it is pro-poor. The decomposition method was used to estimate the contributions of individual factors to CI. The overall CI for five or more prenatal visits was 0.075. The household wealth index was found to make the greatest contribution to socio-economic inequalities for five or more prenatal visits (35.5%), followed by maternal education (28.8%), receipt of a health handbook during pregnancy (12.1%), age group (11.0%), distance from health facility (10.5%), family members (1.5%) and district of residence (0.6%). Socio-economic inequalities in the use of prenatal health services were pro-rich in rural western China. Socio-economic inequalities in hospital delivery and postnatal health check-ups were not evident. Improving household economic status, providing prenatal health services for women with low income and low educational level, providing health handbooks and improving traffic conditions should be promoted as methods to eliminate socio

Which model of capitalism best delivers both wealth and equality?

OpenAIRE

William Q Judge; Stav Fainshmidt; J Lee Brown III

2014-01-01

Capitalism is the dominant economic system adopted throughout the global economy, but there are many different models of capitalism practiced depending on what the society decides “economic effectiveness” is. In this study, we assert that an effective economy simultaneously achieves two seemingly divergent outcomes: it (1) creates economic wealth efficiently, and (2) shares that wealth equitably. Employing insights from Whitley’s national business systems framework and fuzzy set analysis, we ...

The Effect of Wealth Shocks on Loss Aversion: Behavior and Neural Correlates

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V. S. Chandrasekhar Pammi

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Kahneman and Tversky (1979 first demonstrated that when individuals decide whether or not to accept a gamble, potential losses receive more weight than possible gains in the decision. This phenomenon is referred to as loss aversion. We investigated how loss aversion in risky financial decisions is influenced by sudden changes to wealth, employing both behavioral and neurobiological measures. We implemented an fMRI experimental paradigm, based on that employed by Tom et al. (2007. There are two treatments, called RANDOM and CONTINGENT. In RANDOM, the baseline setting, the changes to wealth, referred to as wealth shocks in economics, are independent of the actual choices participants make. Under CONTINGENT, we induce the belief that the changes in income are a consequence of subjects' own decisions. The magnitudes and sequence of the shocks to wealth are identical between the CONTINGENT and RANDOM treatments. We investigated whether more loss aversion existed in one treatment than another. The behavioral results showed significantly greater loss aversion in CONTINGENT compared to RANDOM after a negative wealth shock. No differences were observed in the response to positive shocks. The fMRI results revealed a neural loss aversion network, comprising the bilateral striatum, amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex that was common to the CONTINGENT and RANDOM tasks. However, the ventral prefrontal cortex, primary somatosensory cortex and superior occipital cortex, showed greater activation in response to a negative change in wealth due to individual's own decisions than when the change was exogenous. These results indicate that striatum activation correlates with loss aversion independently of the source of the shock, and that the ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC codes the experimental manipulation of agency in one's actions influencing loss aversion.

The Effect of Wealth Shocks on Loss Aversion: Behavior and Neural Correlates.

Science.gov (United States)

Pammi, V S Chandrasekhar; Ruiz, Sergio; Lee, Sangkyun; Noussair, Charles N; Sitaram, Ranganatha

2017-01-01

Kahneman and Tversky (1979) first demonstrated that when individuals decide whether or not to accept a gamble, potential losses receive more weight than possible gains in the decision. This phenomenon is referred to as loss aversion. We investigated how loss aversion in risky financial decisions is influenced by sudden changes to wealth, employing both behavioral and neurobiological measures. We implemented an fMRI experimental paradigm, based on that employed by Tom et al. (2007). There are two treatments, called RANDOM and CONTINGENT. In RANDOM, the baseline setting, the changes to wealth, referred to as wealth shocks in economics, are independent of the actual choices participants make. Under CONTINGENT, we induce the belief that the changes in income are a consequence of subjects' own decisions. The magnitudes and sequence of the shocks to wealth are identical between the CONTINGENT and RANDOM treatments. We investigated whether more loss aversion existed in one treatment than another. The behavioral results showed significantly greater loss aversion in CONTINGENT compared to RANDOM after a negative wealth shock. No differences were observed in the response to positive shocks. The fMRI results revealed a neural loss aversion network, comprising the bilateral striatum, amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex that was common to the CONTINGENT and RANDOM tasks. However, the ventral prefrontal cortex, primary somatosensory cortex and superior occipital cortex, showed greater activation in response to a negative change in wealth due to individual's own decisions than when the change was exogenous. These results indicate that striatum activation correlates with loss aversion independently of the source of the shock, and that the ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC) codes the experimental manipulation of agency in one's actions influencing loss aversion.

Health and Wealth of Elderly Couples : Causality Tests Using Dynamic Panel Data Models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Michaud, P.C.; van Soest, A.H.O.

2004-01-01

A positive relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and health, the so-called \\health-wealth gradient", is repeatedly found in most industrialized countries with similar levels of health care technology and economic welfare. This study analyzes causality from health to wealth (health

Measuring equity in household's health care payments (Tehran-Iran 2013): technical points for health policy decision makers.

Science.gov (United States)

Rezapour, Aziz; Ebadifard Azar, Farbod; Azami Aghdash, Saber; Tanoomand, Asghar; Hosseini Shokouh, Seyed Morteza; Yousefzadeh, Negar; Atefi Manesh, Pezhman; Sarabi Asiabar, Ali

2015-01-01

Households' financial protection against health payments and expenditures and equity in utilization of health care services are of the most important tasks of governments. This study aims to measuring equity in household's health care payments according to fairness in financial contribution (FFC) and Kakwani indices in Tehran-Iran, 2013. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014.The study sample size was estimated to be 2200 households. Households were selected using stratified-cluster sampling including typical families who reside in the city of Tehran. The data were analyzed through Excel and Stata v.11software. Recall period for the inpatient care was 1 year and for outpatient1 month. The indicator of FFC for households in health financing was estimated to be 0.68 and the trend of the indicator was ascending by the rise in the ranking of households' financial level. The Kakwani index was estimated to be a negative number (-0.00125) which indicated the descending trend of health financing system. By redistribution of incomes or the exempt of the poorest quintiles from health payments, Kakwani index was estimated to be a positive number (0.090555) which indicated the ascending trend of health financing system. According to this study, the equity indices in health care financing denote injustice and a descending trend in the health care financing system. This finding clearly shows that deliberate policy making in health financing by national health authorities and protecting low-income households against health expenditures are required to improve the equity in health.

Socioeconomic gradients in child development in very young children: evidence from India, Indonesia, Peru, and Senegal.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernald, Lia C H; Kariger, Patricia; Hidrobo, Melissa; Gertler, Paul J

2012-10-16

Gradients across socio-economic position exist for many measures of children's health and development in higher-income countries. These associations may not be consistent, however, among the millions of children living in lower- and middle-income countries. Our objective was to examine child development and growth in young children across socio-economic position in four developing countries. We used cross-sectional surveys, child development assessments, measures of length (LAZ), and home stimulation (Family Care Index) of children in India, Indonesia, Peru, and Senegal. The Extended Ages and Stages Questionnaire (EASQ) was administered to parents of all children ages 3-23 mo in the household (n =8,727), and length measurements were taken for all children 0-23 mo (n = 11,102). Household wealth and maternal education contributed significantly and independently to the variance in EASQ and LAZ scores in all countries, while controlling for child's age and sex, mother's age and marital status, and household size. Being in the fifth wealth quintile in comparison with the first quintile was associated with significantly higher EASQ scores (0.27 to 0.48 of a standardized score) and higher LAZ scores (0.37 to 0.65 of a standardized score) in each country, while controlling for maternal education and covariates. Wealth and education gradients increased over the first two years in most countries for both EASQ and LAZ scores, with larger gradients seen in 16-23-mo-olds than in 0-7 mo-olds. Mediation analyses revealed that parental home stimulation activities and LAZ were significant mediating variables and explained up to 50% of the wealth effects on the EASQ.

A New Index of Housing Sentiment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bork, Lasse; Møller, Stig Vinther; Pedersen, Thomas Quistgaard

We propose a new measure for housing sentiment and show that it accurately tracks expectations about future house price growth rates. We construct the housing sentiment index using partial least squares on household survey responses to questions about buying conditions for houses. We …find...

Correlation between the Gini index and the observed prosperity

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Mazin, Igor

2006-03-01

It has been well established by computer simulations that a free, unregulated market economy (in the simplest model of a yard sale economy) is unstable and collapses to a singular wealth distribution. It is now a common procedure in computer simulations to stabilize a model by favoring the poorer partner in each transaction, or by redistributing the wealth in the society in favor of the poorer part of the population. Such measures stabilize the economy and create a stationary state with a Gini index Gparity purchasing power) for all countries in the world against their Gini indices, and found that they all (with only 2 outliers) fall into one of two groups: ``wealthy'' countries with PPP>10,000/year, and the rest. The former are characterized by G=0.29±0.07, and the latter by a uniform distribution of all possible Gs. This means that an enforced wealth redistribution is not a moral act of social consciousness, but a necessary precondition for a sustainable economy. The existence of an optimal G is illustrated through a simple model of a yard sale economy with taxation.

Low-wealth Entrepreneurs and Access to External Financing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frid, Casey J.; Wyman, David M.; Gartner, Bill

2016-01-01

Purpose: -The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between low-wealth business founders in the USA and external startup funding. Specifically, the authors test whether a founders’ low personal net worth is correlated with a lower probability of acquiring funding from outside sources...... demonstrates the importance of personal wealth as a factor in acquiring external startup financing compared to human capital, industry, or personal characteristics. Social implications: -If the ability to acquire external funding is significantly constrained, the quality of the opportunity and the skill...... endowments at the outset. Originality/value: -Unlike prior studies, the data used are not subject to survivor bias or an underrepresentation of self-employment. The statistical model jointly estimates acquisition of financing and the amount received. This resolves selection and censoring problems. Finally...

Relationship between empowerment and wealth: trends and predictors in Kenya between 2003 and 2008-2009.

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Voronca, Delia; Walker, Rebekah J; Egede, Leonard E

2018-06-01

This study aimed to examine the association between women's empowerment and wealth over time in Kenya. Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for 2003 and 2008-2009 were used. Eligible women and men were either married or living with a partner. Two scales were used for empowerment: female participation in decision-making, and attitudes toward domestic violence against female partners. Hierarchical linear models were used based on theoretical blocks of covariates. In a sample of 9847 women and 3207 men, results showed empowerment increased over time. After adjustment, female partners' reporting greater empowerment on either scale remained significantly associated with increased wealth, (urban: β = 0.04, p value wealth in rural regions (β = 0.04, p value wealth in urban regions (β = - 0.08, p value wealth. The association varies by gender of respondent and rural/urban residence.

The diet-related GHG index

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Thomas Bøker; Watson, David; Smed, Sinne

2017-01-01

The aim was to construct and validate a cost-efficient index to measure GHG emissions (GHGe) caused by Danish consumers’ diets to be employed in questionnaire-based surveys. The index was modelled on the basis of actual food purchase data from a panel of ordinary Danish households...... and a questionnaire consisting of food frequency questions issued to the same panel. Based on the purchase data, diet-related GHGe were calculated for 2012. The data was then split into a learning sample and a validation sample. The index was constructed using the learning sample where a scoring procedure...... was calculated from responses to the questionnaire-based food frequency questions that predicted diet-related GHGe. Subsequently, the index scoring procedure was employed on the validation sample and the empirical relevance of the index was examined. In the learning sample, a scoring procedure to construct...

The Role of Empowerment in the Association between a Woman's Educational Status and Infant Mortality in Ethiopia: Secondary Analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys.

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Alemayehu, Yibeltal Kiflie; Theall, Katherine; Lemma, Wuleta; Hajito, Kifle Woldemichael; Tushune, Kora

2015-10-01

Socioeconomic status at national, sub-national, household, and individual levels explains a significant portion of variation in infant mortality. Women's education is among the major determinants of infant mortality. The mechanism through which a woman's own educational status, over her husband's as well as household characteristics, influences infant mortality has not been well studied in developing countries. The objective of this study was to explore the role of woman's empowerment and household wealth in the association between a woman's educational status and infant mortality. The association between a woman's educational status and infant death, and the role of woman's empowerment and household wealth in this relationship, were examined among married women in Ethiopia through a secondary, serial cross-sectional analysis utilizing data on birth history of married women from three rounds of the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the association between woman's education and infant death, and the possible mediation or moderation roles of woman empowerment and household wealth. Female education and empowerment were inversely associated with infant death. The results indicated mediation by empowerment in the education-infant death association, and effect modification by household wealth. Both empowerment and education had strongest inverse association with infant death among women from the richest households. The findings suggest an important role of female empowerment in the education-infant death relation, and the complexity of these factors according to household wealth. Woman empowerment programs may prove effective as a shorter term intervention in reducing infant mortality.

Age differences in the understanding of wealth and power: the mediating role of future time perspective.

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