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Showing papers by "Deon Filmer published in 2012"


Journal Article
TL;DR: This paper found that adults with disabilities typically live in poorer than average households: disability is associated with about a 10 percentage point increase in the probability of falling in the two poorest quintiles.
Abstract: Analysis of 14 household surveys from 13 developing countries suggests that 1–2 percent of the population have disabilities. Adults with disabilities typically live in poorer than average households: disability is associated with about a 10 percentage point increase in the probability of falling in the two poorest quintiles. Much of the association appears to reflect lower educational attainment among adults with disabilities. People of ages 6–17 with disabilities do not live in systematically wealthier or poorer households than other people of their age, although in all countries studied they are significantly less likely to start school or to be enrolled at the time of the survey. The order of magnitude of the school participation deficit associated with disability—which is as high as 50 percentage points in 3 of the 13 countries—is often larger than deficits related to other characteristics, such as gender, rural residence, or economic status differentials. The results suggest a worrisome vicious cycle...

44 citations



Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the evidence showing two weak links in the chain between government spending for services to improve health and actual improvements in health status, and suggest that market failures are the least severe for relatively inexpensive curative services, which often absorb the bulk of primary health care budgets.
Abstract: Recent empirical and theoretical literature sheds light on the disappointing experience with implementation of primary health care programs in developing countries. This article focuses on the evidence showing two weak links in the chain between government spending for services to improve health and actual improvements in health status. First, institutional capacity is a vital ingredient in providing effective services. When this capacity is inadequate, health spending, even on the right services, may lead to little actual provision of services. Second, the net effect of government health services depends on the severity of market failures—the more severe the market failures, the greater the potential for government services to have an impact. Evidence suggests that market failures are the least severe for relatively inexpensive curative services, which often absorb the bulk of primary health care budgets. A companion paper, available from the authors (seep. 219), offers a perspective on how government fu...

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors analyzed socioeconomic differences in adult mortality in four African countries (the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone) using the adult mortality module in the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), calculating mortality based on the sibling mortality reports collected from female respondents aged 15-49.
Abstract: We analyze socioeconomic differences in adult mortality in four African countries-the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone-using the adult mortality module in the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), calculating mortality based on the sibling mortality reports collected from female respondents aged 15-49. We discuss the advantages and potential issues associated with this data source. While mortality events precipitated by those civil conflicts tend to affect all groups, we conclude that they appear to affect men, and in particular urban and more educated men to a greater extent than the other groups.

3 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: This article presents an approach to public policy in health that comes directly from the literature on public economics and identifies two characteristic market failures in health, the existence of large externalities in the control of many infectious diseases that are mostly addressed by standard public health interventions and the widespread breakdown of insurance markets that leave people exposed to catastrophic financial losses.
Abstract: In an earlier article, the authors outline some reasons for the disappointingly small effects of primary health care programs and identified two weak links standing between spending and increased health care. The first was the inability to translate public expenditure on health care into real services due to inherent difficulties of monitoring and controlling the behavior of public employees. The second was the "crowding out" of private markets for health care, markets that exist predominantly at the primary health care level. This article presents an approach to public policy in health that comes directly from the literature on public economics. It identifies two characteristic market failures in health. The first is the existence of large externalities in the control of many infectious diseases that are mostly addressed by standard public health interventions. The second is the widespread breakdown of insurance markets that leave people exposed to catastrophic financial losses. Other essential considera...

1 citations