Level of living and fertility among a rural population of the Philippines

This study examines the issue of whether the relationship of fertility to measures of economic resources is different at lower income levels than at higher levels. Testing was done in a rural Philippine setting in 1978-79. 3 measures of economic resources were utilized -- income, quality of housing, and provision of schooling for children. The data were drawn from a survey of rural families residing in 5 muncipalities of Iloilo province, on Panay Island in the central Philippines. In the study design, villages (or barangays) were selected from the 5 municipalities to obtain equal numbers of 3 agricultural types -- upland, rainfed lowland, and irrigated lowland farms. Interviews were conducted during a 4-month period in late 1978 and early 1979. Completed interviews of 1077 married women were obtained from 1066 households in 46 villages. These women were under age 50. The number of children ever born was used as the measure of fertility. To derive household income for the families in the survey both farm production and nonfarm income were converted into Philippine pesos. For a measure of housing quality, an index was formed based on 7 household items which could be considered amenities for the family and on the reported construction materials for 5 parts of the dwelling. This sample of households in the rural villages of Iloilo Province exhibited evidence of a threshold in the relationship between housing quality and fertility and between per capita income and fertility. For those families with per capita income less than 200 pesos per year, there was a strong positive relationship between 2 of the economic resource measures and fertility. This threshold for families of very low income showed support for the presence of limiting factors other than contraception. When the contracepting women of low income were removed from the analysis, the slope below the threshold became steeper. The poor nutrition and poor health that are associated with very low income can result in lower fecundity, thus biologically or nonvolitionally limiting fertility from what it could be with conditions of good health and nutrition. Among the families with higher per capita income, there was a negative relationship between per capita income and fertility. Housing quality yielded the strongest evidence of the threshold effect. Education of the children was not related to fertility in this model. Study findings indicate that for about 1/3 of this rural population initial increases in their economic level or living standard could result in increasing fertility up to a threshold level.     

Women’s Empowerment Mitigates the Negative Effects of Low Production Diversity on Maternal and Child Nutrition in Nepal

Abstract

We use household survey data from Nepal to investigate relationships between women’s empowerment in agriculture and production diversity on maternal and child dietary diversity and anthropometric outcomes. Production diversity is positively associated with maternal and child dietary diversity, and weight-for-height z-scores. Women’s group membership, control over income, reduced workload, and overall empowerment are positively associated with better maternal nutrition. Control over income is positively associated with height-for-age z-scores (HAZ), and a lower gender parity gap improves children’s diets and HAZ. Women’s empowerment mitigates the negative effect of low production diversity on maternal and child dietary diversity and HAZ.     

Dynamic properties of Taiwanese fertility, 1950–1972

This extensive statistical study focuses on fertility patterns during the postwar period in Taiwan. The analytical technique is economic, with socioeconomic variables generally considered the important determinants of fertility; on the other hand, female education and labor force participation were seen to exert a strong negative effect on fertility. Taiwan has reduced birth rates nearly 50% in the period from the 1950s-1970s. In 1972, Taiwan's birth rate/woman was 3.4, a 50% reduction from 1950, generally attributed to institution of a well-conceived family planning program in 1964. It is hypothesized that the socioeconomic forces (presented in 7 comprehensive tables) which influenced negatively the rate of births, worked primarily to reduce excess rather than desired fertility. The clear connection between women's participation in the labor force and reduction in desired fertility leads to the suggestion that stronger economic incentives must be presented to women. Given the already wide availability and low cost of birth control devices, further fertility reductions caused by expanded participation in the family planning program are not likely to reduce desired family size significantly. Instead, it is argued that such reductions tend to occur slowly and to be associated with more economically meaningful roles for women. Analyzed on a cost-benefit basis, the fertility control efforts of the Taiwanese government should be directed to achieving a synchronization between the skill levels demanded by the economy and those acquired in the system of higher education. Economic incentives for fewer births would then augment, rather than offset, the presently extant negative effects of slowly changing attitudinal variables and economic development. The formulation and usefulness of statistical methods are developed extensively within this article.     

The effects of family planning effort and development on fertility: An intervening variables framework

To pinpoint the intervening variable that transmit the impacts of development and family planning effort on fertility, a modified proximate determinants model was applied to data from 59 developing countries. The intermediate variable included level of exposure to sexual intercourse (the percentage of women 20-24 years old in a union), deliberate marital fertility control (the percentage of married women of reproductive age who were using contraception), and natural marital fertility (operationalized as average per capita calorie consumption). The regression equations indicated that both social development and family planning effort can influence fertility levels substantially through their association with higher levels of contraceptive use. Interestingly, the direct effects of family planning and social development on the crude birth rate became insignificant when the intermediate variables were included in the same equation. Path analysis revealed that social development has an indirect effect of -0.083 via its influence on marriage patterns and of -0.316 due to its effect on contraceptive usage. Family planning has a lesser indirect impact on fertility (-0.487), and -0.111 of this effect reflects program effort's dependence on the level of social development. Economic development is positively linked to fertility, and future research should assess whether this factor is partially counterbalancing the fertility-reducing impact of social development and family planning programs. Although this analysis confirms that delayed marriage and widespread adoption of contraception are key intervening variables, they cannot influence fertility in societies where there are social or cultural impediments to such changes.     

How Economic Empowerment Reduces Women’s Reproductive Health Vulnerability in Tanzania

This article uses data from Northern Tanzania to analyse how economic empowerment helps women reduce their reproductive health (RH) vulnerability. It analyses the effect of women’s employment and economic contribution to their household on health care use at three phases in the reproductive cycle: before pregnancy, during pregnancy and at child birth. Economic empowerment shows a positive effect on health seeking behaviour during pregnancy and at child birth, which remains robust after controlling for bargaining power and selection bias. This indicates that any policy that increases women’s economic empowerment can have a direct positive impact on women’s RH.     

Have a Son,Gain a Voice: Son Preference and Female Participation in Household Decision Making

This study analyses the effects of observed preference for boys on Pakistani women’s participation in household decision-making. We find a significant association between female participation in various household decisions and their preference for boys. Bearing at least one son is associated with 5 per cent, 7 per cent, and 5 per cent higher say in decisions involving healthcare, social, and consumption matters, respectively. Women’s role in financial affairs, however, does not change significantly. Female participation in decision-making grows with the number of sons but only up to third parity. The improvement in female participation remains limited and decision- or context-specific.     

Joint production and consumption in traditional households: Fuelwood and crop residues in two districts in Nepal

Forest conversion by agricultural households is the leading cause of deforestation. Yet we know little about agricultural household use of forest and tree products. This article measures household production of and demand for fuelwood and fuel substitutes in two districts in Nepal. Women play a larger role in collection in the district dependant on production from common forestlands. Men and agricultural capital are more important inputs in the district dependant on production from private lands. The article also measures demand elasticities for fuelwood, combustible agricultural residues, and improved stoves (a technological substitute), each by household income group. All price and income demand elasticities are less than one. The substitution elasticities between residues and fuelwood are less than one. Residues are more important substitutes for low income households and improved stoves are more important substitutes for high income households.     

Daughter Elimination in Tamil Nadu,India: A Tale of Two Ratios

A disturbing feature of demographic trends in India is the sharp decline in the proportion of girls to boys. Most existing analyses of the Indian child sex ratio present a country wide picture and focus on trends across states. Such state level analyses may hide intra state variation. This paper uses district and village data on sex ratio at birth and infant mortality to examine the extent, geographical spread and nature (before or after birth) of daughter deficit within the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Our analysis shows that (i) daughter deficit in Tamil Nadu occurs in nearly half the state's districts; (ii) a large proportion of daughter deficit occurs before birth; (iii) daughter deficit rises with birth order and (iv) daughter elimination is not confined to particular socio-economic groups.     

A multilevel analysis of fertility behavior in Korea

This analysis of the socioeconomic determinants of fertility behavior in Korea develops a model that simultaneously considers both individual and community-level differences. The model includes 3 fertility process components: onset, early fertility, and later fertility, which are defined by reference to maternal age. The analysis traced the effects of respondents' education and childhood residence through their intermediate consequences for work experience before and after marriage, husbands' education and occupation, current residence, childhood mortality, and sex composition of offspring. The data were derived from the 1974 Korean National Fertility Survey. The results of this analysis indicate that socioeconomic development results in increased age at 1st birth and reduced number of children. Socioeconomic development is accompanied by desires for smaller family size, creating the conditions for fertility decline even in the absence of a national family planning program. The results for early fertility supported the hypothesis that there would be no effect of employment in the modern sector before marriage on fertility before age 30 years in traditional contexts, but a positive effect in transitional contexts. Aside from age at 1st birth, none of the micro coefficients were statistically significant in explaining the early fertility model. For later fertility, the relationships between micro and social context variables were negative, as hypothesized, but dampening effects of development due to family planning were not detected. Childhood residence played a small role in explaining fertility measures, but women's education did not work either additively or interactively.     

Do Safety Net Transfers Improve Diets and Reduce Undernutrition? Evidence from Rural Ethiopia

In this paper we examine the impact of the Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on household dietary diversity and child nutrition using both waves of the Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey. For identification, we use various methodologies. Results indicate consistently that PSNP has not had the desired effect on household dietary diversity or child nutrition regardless of model specification or methodology, suggesting that perhaps the transfers need to be paired with additional interventions such as information about nutrition.     

Public investment,social services and productivity of Chinese household farms

This article examines the impact of village‐sponsored infrastructural investment and social services on the productivity of Chinese farm households, using detailed farm‐level data for the period 1986–90. The main findings are that the public facilities and services provided by village collectives augmented productivity growth of farm households, and that the expenditures on public good activities in the sample villages were below the optimal level. The problems of under‐investment in public projects were particularly acute in low‐income villages.     

Books received

This paper is concerned with the role of education as a determinant of health care choices. The central premise of the paper is that utilisation of health services is determined not solely by an individual's own education, but rather by a notion of effective education, which incorporates the educational attainment of other household members. The paper sets out a general framework for representing intra-household education externalities, and proposes a number of specific hypotheses concerning the way in which the education of different household members affects health care choices. These hypotheses are tested on data from Mozambique, focusing on maternity services, child immunisations, and child malnutrition. We draw four major conclusions from the analysis. First, while maternal education seems to be the education variable of primary importance for the health service and malnutrition variables under consideration, the education of other household members does have a significant and sometimes large effect. This is true not only for the spouse, but also the education of other individuals residing in the household. Second, the analysis suggests that while the education of the person (non-spouse) in the household with the highest level of education is important, the level of education of additional household members does not, as a rule, affect the use of services or child health outcomes. Third, the data provide no evidence of a gender difference in education externalities. Fourth, we examine the merits of two alternative representations of the education externality, but are unable to conclude unambiguously in favour of one specification over the other.     

Fertility,development, and family planning, 1970–1980: An analysis of cases weighted by population

A series of related studies (Freedman and Berelson, 1976; Mauldin and Berelson, 1978; and Tsui and Bogue, 1978) have presented empirical findings based on multiple regression analysis which indicated that family planning program effort (FP), as measured by an index developed by Lapham and Mauldin (1972), was the single most important predictor of (or influence on) fertility reduction in less-developed countries (LDCs). The basic results have been confirmed repeatedly. A more extensive data set was used to extend the analysis to a comparison of results of corss-sectional models circa 1970 and 1980. The study builds upon the results of past studies yet differs from them in several ways. All the variables in the present study were measured at 2 points in time: circa 1970 and circa 1980, allowing a comparison between cross-sectional models for 1970 and 1980. Among the cases included in this multivariate analysis was China, a country usually excluded for lack of data. The analysis was extend to 85 countries. Cases were weighted by population, having the effect of increasing the impact of larger countries such as India and China on the outcome of the analysis. Total fertility rate (TFR) was used as an indicator of fertility. For 1970, family planning program effort had the strongest direct influence on fertility (a result consistent with previous studies). Life expectancy at birth was the other direct influence. The direct influence of life expectancy at birth was less than that of family planning, but the total influence was greater. After life expectancy and family planning, school enrollment and relative educational status of women had the strongest indirect and total influences. The other variables all had a positive influence on fertility. When the total variance attributable was considered, directly and indirectly to each of the independent variables, urbanization, carlorie supply, and per capita gross national product all accounted for less than 5% of the variance in fertility, all of it indirect. Life expectancy, family planning, and school enrollment each explained (directly plus indirectly) more than 10% of the variance in fertility. The pattern differed somewhat for 1980. Calorie supply, per capita gross national product, and relative educational status of women had no influence, direct or indirect on fertility. Also for 1980, life expectancy had a stronger direct influence on fertility than family planning. Overall, life expectancy at birth, family planning program effort, and total school enrollment emerged as the principal influences on fertility.     

Household Water Supply Choice and Time Allocated to Water Collection: Evidence from Madagascar

This article uses household survey data from Madagascar to examine water supply choice and time spent in water collection. We find that the choice of water source is strongly influenced by a number of household characteristics, as well as distance to sources. There are also strong substitution effects across sources. For example, increasing the distance to a public tap by 1 km increases the probability of using a well by 43 per cent in urban areas. With regards to time spent gathering water, we focus on the effects of gender, age, and distance to water. Women and girls spend the most time gathering water. The response to reducing distance to water sources differs in rural and urban areas, as well as by gender and age of household members. Investments to reduce to the distance to water sources will have larger impacts on adults than children, and on men than women.     

Consumption of modern goods and services and it's relation to fertility: A study in Taiwan

A survey in Taiwan showed that couples whose consumption patterns emphasize modem goods and services also exhibit modern fertility behaviour, i.e. they cite a somewhat lower ideal family size and are considerably more likely to be using contraception. Since the ownership of modern goods in Taiwan does not appear to be achieved at the expense of either savings or educational aspirations, a suggested hypothesis is that economic development, by fostering new wants, may encourage couples to limit family size.     

Fertility decline and social service access: Reconciling behavioral and medical models

In this summary of fertility literature the author attempts to differentiate between the effects of behavioral and medical models of family planning programs on the fertility rate. This is done by determining the effects of access to social welfare services by assessment of: the function of children within the family life survey conducted in the Cameroons are also used. It was found that 7 interdependent elements of social service are involved: 1) general health care; 2) social security for sick and aged; 3) employment training and opportunities for adults; 4) literacy and education; 5) communication and transportation systems; 6) housing and infrastructure; 7) child care and welfare. The presence of these elements is shown to accompany low fertility while their absence is expressed in high rates of child bearing. These elements are major variables in both the nomological and public policy senses. 2 additional components are knowledge of and favorable attitudes towards effective means of fertility control plus effective mechanical, chemical, or natural means of limiting fertility. The concept of fertility norm and its impact on the fertility rate is explained as being the result of the collective force which social affiliations exert on people to reproduce in a certain way. The "stopping rule" is that which will fulfill the fertility norm. An example of this is a culture which continues child bearing until a son has been born and then controls reproduction after this has happened. Such factors must be considered for family planning programs to succeed in these cultures. Therefore fertility levels are found to be the product of prevailing norms and technical ability to achieve these norms. Improvement in levels of access to social services can bring about the lowering of these norms.     

For Health,Strength, and Daily Food: The Dual Impact of Remittances and Public Health Expenditure on Household Health Spending and Child Health Outcomes

Abstract

Child and infant mortality in developing countries decreased 33.5 per cent and 30.9 per cent, respectively, during 1995–2009, while remittances and public health spending more than doubled. I examine how remittances and government health spending improve these child health outcomes. Neither government health spending nor remittances causally affect household health spending. Public health spending has an insignificant negative impact on mortality. The increase in remittances causally accounts for 32 per cent and 37 per cent of the decline in child and infant mortality, respectively. Remittances reduce mortality through improved living standards from the relaxation of households’ budget constraints.     

Do Participatory Learning and Action Women’s Groups Alone or Combined with Cash or Food Transfers Expand Women’s Agency in Rural Nepal?

Participatory learning and action women’s groups (PLA) have proven effective in reducing neonatal mortality in rural, high-mortality settings, but their impacts on women’s agency in the household remain unknown. Cash transfer programmes have also long targeted female beneficiaries in the belief that this empowers women. Drawing on data from 1309 pregnant women in a four-arm cluster-randomised controlled trial in Nepal, we found little evidence for an impact of PLA alone or combined with unconditional food or cash transfers on women’s agency in the household. Caution is advised before assuming PLA women’s groups alone or with resource transfers necessarily empower women.     

Gender,Weather Shocks and Welfare: Evidence from Malawi

This paper explores the gender-differentiated effects of weather shocks on households’ welfare in Malawi using panel data aligned with climatic records. Results show that temperature shocks severely affect household welfare, reducing consumption, food consumption and daily caloric intake. The negative welfare effects are more severe for households where land is solely managed by women, a finding that sheds light on the gender-unequal impact of temperature shocks. Our evidence also suggests that women’s vulnerability to temperature shocks is linked to women’s land tenure security, as temperature shocks significantly impact women’s welfare only in patrilineal districts, where statistics show that investment in agricultural technologies is lower.     

Population and development: fact,fancy and politics

Massive population growth is an accepted fact in developing countries at a time when developed, Western countries, i.e., the U.S., have become increasingly disenchanted with foreign aid. The gap between the very rich and very poor becomes wider and sharper. Most people live either in countries where the per capita income is below $320 or above $1,280. Lowering fertility rates would be favorable to economic conditions in the long run but with little short-run effect, population control is not a high priority government activity. The theme of the 1974 Bucharest Conference was that if development were encouraged, fertility would take care of itself. Programs which directly influence fertility rates are needed to improve development. Family planning programs are low cost compared to other development policies, and they improve maternal and child health. Women cannot be educated or employed unless they have the freedom of choice not to have children or when to have children. Western enthusiasm for fertility control has been met with suspicion in many devleoping areas. Western attitudes should be balanced by restructuring world trade and constructing relationships which would hasten economic development.