Female education and child mortality in Indonesia

This paper uses a sample of 6620 women from the 1994 Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey to examine the relationship between female education and child mortality in Indonesia. Female education is measured in terms of both years of education and literacy. Both primary education and secondary schooling significantly decrease the probability of child death, while literacy plays an insignificant role. When the sample is divided into urban and rural locations, primary and secondary education are significant in both areas in reducing the likelihood of a mother experiencing child mortality. The benefits of public and private infrastructure appear to differ in rural and urban areas. The results confirm that investment in female human capital lowers the probability of child mortality.     

Inequality and infant and childhood mortality in the United States in the twentieth century

This paper deals with the issue of using infant and childhood mortality as an indicator of inequality. The case is that of the United States in the 20th century. Using microdata from the 1900 and 1910 Integrated Public Use Microsamples (IPUMS), published data from the Birth Registration Area in the 1920s, results from a number of surveys, and the Linked Birth & Infant Death Files from the National Center for Health Statistics for 1991, infant and child mortality can be related to such other variables as occupation of father or mother, education of father or mother, family income, race, ethnicity, and residence. The evidence shows that, although there have been large absolute reductions in the level of infant and child mortality rates and also a reduction in the absolute levels of differences across socioeconomic groups, relative inequality has not diminished over the 20th century.     

The Effect of Household Socioeconomic Status on the Demand for Child Health Care Services

The health of the child is an important factor for proper childhood development. Unfortunately, efforts to improve child health in many countries have not yielded the desired results as many children do not receive appropriate health care, hence contributing to high child mortality and morbidity from avoidable causes. To address this problem, it is important that we understand the factors that drive the demand for child health care services. This study, employing the binary and multinomial logistic regression models, examines the effect of household socioeconomic status on the demand for child health care in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia using data from the 2014 Demographic and Health Surveys. The results indicate that the likelihood of seeking appropriate health care for the child is higher when both parents make decisions. The findings further indicate that the odds of seeking treatment for the child falls with the birth order and age of the child, but increases with household wealth, insurance status and proximity to the health facility. Working women are more likely to demand child health care than their counterparts who are unemployed. Our results, therefore, suggest that improving child health will need the participation of both parents in the household on such decisions. Besides, there is the need to educate parents on the importance of seeking appropriate care for all the children born irrespective of the birth order and age of the child. There should also be deliberate efforts to improve the economic lot of households to enhance their purchasing power and encourage them to participate in health insurance schemes to enable effective utilization of health care services for the child in the efforts to improve child health.     

Is the eldest son different? The residential choice of siblings in Japan

In this paper, we analyze the determinants of the living arrangements (coresidence behavior) of elderly parents and their children (whether elderly parents live with their children, and if so, with which child) in Japan using micro-data from a household survey. Our results provide support for all four explanations of coresidence behavior but especially for the life cycle and dynasty models (both of which assume selfishly motivated parents) and social norms and traditions: the fact that parents who were self-employed before retirement are more likely to live with their children, the fact that parents are less likely to live with sons who adopt their wife's surname, and the fact that parents are more likely to live with daughters whose husbands adopt their surname constitute evidence in favor of the dynasty model. The fact that parents who were (relatively wealthy) executives before retirement and parents who are homeowners are more likely to live with their children and the fact that parents are more likely to live with less educated children constitute evidence in favor of the selfish life cycle model (or the altruism model). And the fact that parental attitudes toward their children affect their coresidence behavior, the fact that parents are more likely to live with their eldest child if their eldest child is a son, and the fact that parents are most likely to live with their eldest son even if he is not the eldest child constitute evidence in favor of social norms and traditions.     

Factors impacting on the primary school education of emigrants’ children: The case of Gwanda South,Zimbabwe

The factors that impact on the primary school education of children left behind by cross-border circular emigrants in a poor rural community are examined. Data collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions from the emigrants’ children, their teachers, guardians or parents and from community leaders gave insight into these factors. The findings showed that the main factor impacting positively on the education of the emigrants’ children was the ability of the parents to support their children’s education financially. The separation of the emigrants’ children from their parents was a factor that impacted most negatively on their education.     

The multilevel analysis of students’ achievement: Evidence from Morocco

This paper, using multi‐level modelling, sought to highlight student‐level and school‐level characteristics that differentiate the academic performance in mathematics from a sample of 6080 Moroccan secondary students who participated in the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) test. The results indicated little evidence to support the Heyneman–Loxley effect, as they showed that individual and family characteristics were the strongest determinants of achievement compared to the schools’ factors. Students scored higher when they were boys, were younger, were more self‐confident, were more ambitious, and felt secure in school. They also scored higher when they came from families with a higher socioeconomic status, particularly when their parents were able to ensure the availability of learning resources, and were of a higher level of education. Finally, schools were matter for their pupil achievement mainly through the location channel, as urban pupils outperformed rural ones. However, the other school characteristics, including those related to teachers, played a negative, or at best neutral, role in pupil outcomes. These findings have important public policy implications. Redesigning education policy towards improving the school's environment and fostering inclusivity would be needed to enhance learning performance of Moroccan students.     

Does school shutdown increase inequality in academic performance? Evidence from COVID-19 pandemic in China

The school shutdown due to the global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can lead to an increase in educational inequality through disproportionately affecting disadvantaged children. We use data from a unique survey of 7202 junior high school students and their parents from Shaanxi province to explore whether the school shutdown enlarged the educational gap between students with different parental socioeconomic statuses (SES) during the pandemic. We find that students with more highly educated parents experienced an increase in relative test rankings after the shutdown period. A 1-year increase in parents' education led to a relative 0.18-percentile increase in students' rankings of total test scores. We also identify the mechanisms behind the enlarged gap by means of heterogeneity analyses. We show that parents' education mainly affected children's academic performance through parents' engagement in their children's homeschooling, mitigating the negative impacts of Internet addiction on students, and serving as substitutes for teachers who were unable to teach well online.     

Do Parents Invest Less in Worse-Performing Children? Evidence from the Asian Financial Crisis

This article uses data from Indonesia around the time of the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis to examine the role of parental preferences in human capital accumulation. Using a household fixed-effects estimation, I test whether parental education spending is affected by child mathematics test scores. I find that parents are more sensitive to the human capital of younger children, who are penalised for having lower skills than their older siblings. Differences in investment by child gender or birth order are evident in 2000 but not in 1997. This suggests that parents may have an efficiency investment strategy only when resource-constrained, and that education of younger children may be a luxury good.     

One explanation for the demographic transition in developing countries

This paper considers, in an overlapping generations model, thefertility choice of parents confronted with the possibilityof child mortality. The motive for having children is assumedto be old age security and, therefore, not altruistic It isshown first in a partial equilibrium setting that reductionsin child mortality can induce a demographic transition. In ageneral equilibrium setting, it is shown that a marginal reductionin child mortality can raise or lower the standard of livingof the steady-state equilibrium population, depending on theinitial level of child mortality. Finally the paper draws somerelevant policy implications.     

Effect of Migration on Children＇s Self-esteem in Rural China

China＇s rapid economic growth has been facilitated by its large volume of rural to urban migration. China ＇s projected future development, especially increasing urbanization, implies that such migration will further intensify. However, migration does not come without cost. There are concerns about the potential negative impacts of migration on children＇s care, education, and, in particular, the self-esteem of children left behind in villages where one or both parents have out-migrated to cities. In this paper, we employ unique survey data collected from Shaanxi Province, where more than 4700 ninth grade students from 36 rural junior high schools in five counties were surveyed in late 2011. The results show that having both parents migrate into cities significantly reduced children ＂s self-esteem. The effects are also gender sensitive. Girls that had a father or both parents who had out-migrated were inclined to have lower self-esteem than boys. Moreover, our study findings indicate that parental migration decreased children ＂s self-esteem more for individuals with initial low self-esteem.     

Determinants of migration in a large third world city

The author examines determinants of migration to Karachi, Pakistan, using data from a 1987-1988 socioeconomic survey of 6,275 households in the city. Aspects considered include population at area of origin, income levels, employment conditions, age, and education.     

An econometric investigation of the condition of children in Italy

This paper provides some analytical contributions in evaluating the impact of worsening economic conditions and the prospect of more restrictive social policies on children's status in Italy. It specifies a causal model linking child's status to a set of variables (including, for example, parent's education, parent's employment, etc.). The specific effect of those variables has been estimated on the basis of two sets of data. The first consists of pooled cross-sectional and time-series information for infant mortality and the other variables indicated above. The second consists of data drawn from a 1979 household survey for the city of Turin. The results indicate that mortality rates, particularly neonatal rates, are sensitive to economic conditions and fluctuations. The employment level of mothers is also found to have a strong effect on child psychosocial status.     

The Declining Contribution of Socioeconomic Disparities to the Racial Gap in Infant Mortality Rates, 1920-1970

This article examines the racial gap in infant mortality rates from 1920 to 1970. Using state-level panel data with information on income, urbanization, women's education, and physicians per capita, we can account for a large portion of the racial gap in infant mortality rates between 1920 and 1945. The educational gap between white and nonwhite women was especially important in this regard. In the postwar period, socioeconomic characteristics account for a declining portion of the racial infant mortality gap. We discuss the postwar experience in light of trends in birth weight, maternal characteristics, smoking and breast-feeding behavior, air pollution, and insurance coverage.     

Good Care Practices Can Mitigate the Negative Effects of Poverty and Low Maternal Schooling on Children’s Nutritional Status: Evidence from Accra

This study uses data from a representative survey of households with preschoolers in Accra, Ghana to: (a) examine the importance of care practices for children’s height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ); and (b) identify subgroups of children for whom good maternal care practices may be particularly important. Good caregiving practices related to child feeding and use of preventive health services were a strong determinant of children’s HAZ, specially among children from the two lower income terciles and children whose mothers had less than secondary schooling. In this population, good care practices could compensate for the negative effects of poverty and low maternal schooling on children’s HAZ. Thus, effective targeting of specific education messages to improve child feeding practices and use of preventive health care could have a major impact on reducing childhood malnutrition in Accra.     

The Costs of Missing the Millennium Development Goal on Gender Equity

At the Millennium Summit, the world community pledged to promote gender equality and chose as a specific target the achievement of gender equity in primary and secondary education by the year 2005 in every country of the world. Based on the findings from a growing empirical literature that suggests that gender equity in education promotes economic growth, reduced fertility, child mortality, and undernutrition, we estimate what the costs in terms of growth, and forgone fertility, mortality and undernutrition reduction, will be for the 45 countries that are, on current projections, unlikely to meet the target. Our estimates suggest that, by 2005, the countries that are off track are likely to suffer 0.1–0.3 percentage points lower per capita growth rates as a result, will have 0.1–0.4 more children per woman, and, by 2015, an average of 15 per 1,000 higher rates of under five mortality, and 2.5 percentage points higher prevalence of underweight children under five. Sensitivity analyses suggest that the results are quite robust to using different specifications and approaches to estimating these losses.     

Does wealth matter? An assessment of China's rural-urban migration on the education of left-behind children

This paper decomposes the impact of parental migration on the education of children left behind. In particular, we examine whether children are enrolled in school on a timely basis according to their age when their parents are away. We found both theoretical and empirical evidence to support that parental migration generates a strong positive impact on timely enrollment if a child is from a less wealthy background. However, the effect decreases with family wealth, and reverses after reaching a threshold; we find this point using family house size as our proxy and the turning point occurs at a moderate size of approximately 148 square meters. In addition, we find a compensating effect that migrants tend to spend more on a child's education investment to offset for the loss of parental time care. Lastly, we found the overall impact of parental migration is negative on the timely enrollment of child. Thus, with the important heterogeneities attributed to wealth, our results suggest that the left behind children of more affluent parents may be pushed into worse human capital outcomes; given the rapid development of China, it may be the case that the current cohort of left behind children is less likely to be enrolled in school than earlier cohorts.     

Black women and labor force participation: An analysis of sluggish growth rates

The labor force participation rate of black women has not increased as fast as that of white women in spite of the fact that black females have the characteristics economists have found most encourage participation. Also black women at all socioeconomic levels have more positive attitudes towards labor market activity. The explanation for the failure for their work rates to grow as fast as those of white women appears to be inadequate employment opportunities for black women from lower socioeconomic groups. Education in or of itself, however, is not the solution to the problem because education yields lower returns to black women with limited schooling than is true for comparable whites. Any strategy devised to solve these employment inequities must address the low relative demand for these workers.     

The Western European marriage pattern and economic development

For several centuries before the First World War women's age at first marriage in the west of Europe was higher than in the east (and in the rest of the world). In their low mortality regimes Western Europeans chose lower fertility in part through a higher female age at marriage. This allowed women to increase their human capital both formally and informally in the years before child bearing so that more informed mothers brought up better educated offspring. The demographic pattern influenced the stock of human capital and directly contributed to Western Europe's development advantage. The predicted relations of this economic model of the household are tested with two datasets, one at the county level for England for the second half of the nineteenth century and the other at the national level for Europe 1870–1910.     

Parental Education and child Nutrition in Indonesia

This study uses 1989 Susenas household data to examine the impact of parental education on pre-school children's nutritional status, as measured by weight-for-age Z-scores. Reduced form regressions are estimated separately for boys and girls in rural and urban areas; explanatory variables include mother's and household head's education; per capita household expenditure; and aspects of the household sanitary environment. The analysis controls for influence of unobserved heterogeneity at village level, e.g. differences in prices and medical service provision. The estimates show a significant effect of parental schooling on child health status, varying between urban and rural areas, and by child gender and age. Mothers with secondary education typically have healthier boys than those with less schooling, while this effect is seen for girls only if the mother has more than secondary education. Maternal schooling significantly affects 2–5 year olds' health, but has little direct effect on that of younger children.     

Basic needs: An assessment of education and nutritional status in two villages of Venda

A basic needs survey was conducted among people living on two agricultural smallholder schemes in Venda. The paper describes the research methodology and assesses the availability of education and the nutritional status of respondents on these two schemes.

Neither the availability of formal schooling nor extension work is satisfactory. The situation regarding primary education has improved over the last few years and almost every child in the survey area goes to school. This seems to be an indication of changing attitudes among parents, increased money available for schooling, as well as greater financial commitments from the Government. However, informal training through extension is carried out only on an irregular basis.

An assessment of the frequency of consumption of various foodstuffs suggests an emphasis on carbohydrates at the expense of proteins, minerals and vitamins. Villagers interviewed indicated that food is in short supply and that allocation of additional land could assist in overcoming these shortages.