SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

We estimate the effects of higher quality healthcare usage on health, labor supply and schooling outcomes for sick individuals in Tanzania. Using exogenous variation in the cost of formal sector healthcare to predict treatment choice, we show that using better quality care improves health outcomes and changes the allocation of time amongst productive activities. In particular, sick adults who receive better quality care reallocate time from non-farm to farm labor, leaving total labor hours unchanged. Among sick children, school attendance significantly increases as a result of receiving higher quality healthcare, but labor allocations are unaffected. We interpret these results as evidence that healthcare has heterogeneous effects on marginal productivity...

Healthcare Choices, Information and Health Outcomes

Palavras-chave: Labor supply; Health shocks; Schooling; Tanzania; Health Economics and Policy; Labor and Human Capital; I10; J22; J43; O12.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/107260

Self-selection into healthcare options on the basis of severity likely biases estimates of the effects of healthcare choice on health outcomes. Using an instrumental variables strategy which exploits exogenous variation in the cost of formal-sector care, we show that using such care to treat acute sickness decreases the incidence of fever and malaria in young children in Tanzania. Compared to the instrumental variables estimates, ordinary least squares estimates significantly understate the effects of formal-sector healthcare use on health outcomes. Improved information and more timely treatment, rather than greater access to medicines, seem to be the primary mechanisms for this effect.

Labor Complementarities and Health in the Agricultural Household

Palavras-chave: Healthcare; Information; Child health; Tanzania; Health Economics and Policy; International Development; I10; I18; O10; O12.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/107257

Models of the agricultural household have traditionally relied on assumptions regarding the complementarity or substitutability of family labor inputs. We show how data on time allocations, health shocks and corresponding treatment choices can be used to test these assumptions. Data from Tanzania provide evidence that complementarities exist and can explain the pattern of labor supply adjustments across household members and productive activities following acute sickness. In particular, we find that sick and healthy household members both shift labor away from self-employment and into farming when the sick recover more quickly. Infra-marginal adjustments within farming activity types provide further evidence of farm-specific complementarities.

Endowments and Investments within the Household: Evidence from Iodine Supplementation in Tanzania

Palavras-chave: Intra-household allocation; Health shocks; Complementarity; Health Economics and Policy; Labor and Human Capital; I10; J22; J43; O12.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/107263

Standard theories of resource allocation within the household posit that parents’ investments in their children reflect a combination of children’s endowments and parents’ preferences for child quality. We study how changes in children’s cognitive endowments affect the distribution of parental investments amongst siblings, using data from a large-scale iodine supplementation program in Tanzania. We find that parents strongly reinforce the higher cognitive endowments of children who received in utero iodine supplementation, by investing more in vaccinations and early life nutrition. The effect of siblings’ endowments on own investments depends on the extent to which quality across children is substitutable in parents’ utility functions. Neonatal...