Showing papers by "Duncan Thomas published in 2002"

Longer-Term Effects of Head Start

Abstract: Specially collected data on adults in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics are used to provide evidence on the longer-term effects of Head Start, an early intervention program for poor preschool-age children. Whites who attended Head Start are, relative to their siblings who did not, significantly more likely to complete high school, attend college, and possibly have higher earnings in their early twenties. African-Americans who participated in Head Start are less likely to have been booked or charged with a crime. There is some evidence of positive spillovers from older Head Start children to their younger siblings. Language: en

Health, nutrition and prosperity: a microeconomic perspective

Abstract: A positive correlation between health and economic prosperity has been widely documented, but the extent to which this reflects a causal effect of health on economic outcomes is very controversial. Two classes of evidence are examined. First, carefully designed random assignment studies in the laboratory and field provide compelling evidence that nutritional deficiency - particularly iron deficiency - reduces work capacity and, in some cases, work output. Confidence in these results is bolstered by a good understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms. Some random assignment studies indicate an improved yield from health services in the labour market. Second, observational studies suggest that general markers of nutritional status, such as height and body mass index (BMI), are significant predictors of economic success although their interpretation is confounded by the fact that they reflect influences from early childhood and family background. Energy intake and possibly the quality of the diet have also been found to be predictive of economic success in observational studies. However, the identification of causal pathways in these studies is difficult and involves statistical assumptions about unobserved heterogeneity that are difficult to test. Illustrations using survey data demonstrate the practical importance of this concern. Furthermore, failure to take into account the dynamic interplay between changes in health and economic status has led to limited progress being reported in the literature. A broadening of random assignment studies to measure the effects of an intervention on economic prosperity, investment in population-based longitudinal socioeconomic surveys, and application of emerging technologies for a better measure of health in these surveys will yield very high returns in improving our understanding of how health influences economic prosperity.

Distribution of power within the household and child health

Abstract: Recent research suggests that household decision-making may be influenced by the relative power of husbands and wives. But, empirical measurement of relative power has been extremely difficult. Using data that were specially collected to address this issue, the value of resources that husbands and wives brought to the marriage are treated as an indicator of economic independence and, therefore, relative power within a marriage. The concept of individual ownership of premarital assets is particularly germane in Indonesia, our study site. Among Javanese families, it is an important and longstanding tradition that resources brought to the marriage by an individual are retained under her (or his) control. Our empirical results indicate that child health is influenced by the relative asset positions of parents at the time they were married, even after controlling current household resources. This suggests that relative power does affect resource allocation within household. Exploiting the fact that there we have multiple measures of child health, we test the hypothesis that it would be possible to re-allocate resources so that at least one household member may be better off without someone else being worse off. We reject this hypothesis and conclude that policies that seek to re-allocate resources within households may not be effective without fundamental shifts in the distribution of power between men and women within the society.

Wages, Employment and Economic Shocks: Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract: After over a quarter century of sustained economic growth, Indonesia was struck by a large and unanticipated crisis at the end of the 20th Century. Real GDP declined by about 12% in 1998. Using 13 years of annual labor force data in conjunction with two waves of a household panel, the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), this paper examines the impact of the crisis on labor market outcomes.

Remembrances of Things Past: Test-Retest Reliability of Retrospective Migration Histories

Abstract: Matched retrospective life history data collected from the same individuals in two waves of the Malaysian Family Life Survey provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the quality of long term recall data in a rapidly changing developing country. Recall quality, measured by consistency of incidence and dating of moves reported twelve years apart, is higher among the better educated. Respondents better remember more salient moves, those linked with other important life events such as marriage, childbirth or a job change and moves that lasted a long time. Migrations that dim in memory as time passes are typically shorter duration or local moves, often made while the respondent was young. Dating of moves is also significantly improved when linked with other salient events. Our findings suggest concrete and practical steps that can be followed to improve the quality of retrospective life histories collected in field surveys.

Health, nutrition and economic prosperity: A micro-economic perspective

Abstract: The positive correlation between health and economic prosperity has been widely documented. The extent to which this reflects a causal effect of health on economic outcomes is very controversial. Two classes of evidence are examined. Carefully designed random assignment laboratory and field studies provide compelling evidence that nutrient deficiency -- particularly iron -- reduces work capacity and, in some cases, work output. Confidence in these results is bolstered by a good understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms. Some random assignment studies indicate improved health services yield returns in the labor market. Observational studies suggest that general dimensions of nutritional status, such as height and body mass index, are significant predictors of economic success although their interpretation is confounded because they reflect influences of early childhood investments and family background. Energy intake and possibly diet quality have also been found to be predictive of economic success in observational studies. However, identification of causal pathways in observational studies is difficult and involves statistical assumptions about unobserved heterogeneity that are difficult to test. Illustrations using survey data demonstrate the practical importance of this concern. Furthermore, failure to take into account the dynamic interplay between changes in health and economic status has limited progress in this literature. Broadening random assignment studies to measure effects of an intervention on economic prosperity, investing in population-based longitudinal socio-economic surveys, and exploiting emerging technologies to better measure health in those surveys will yield very high returns in developing a better understanding of how health influence economic prosperity.

Distribution of power within the household and child health

Abstract: Recent research suggests that household decision-making may be influenced by the relative power of husbands and wives. But, empirical measurement of relative power has been extremely difficult. Using data that were specially collected to address this issue, the value of resources that husbands and wives brought to the marriage are treated as an indicator of economic independence and, therefore, relative power within a marriage. The concept of individual ownership of premarital assets is particularly germane in Indonesia, our study site. Among Javanese families, it is an important and longstanding tradition that resources brought to the marriage by an individual are retained under her (or his) control. Our empirical results indicate that child health is influenced by the relative asset positions of parents at the time they were married, even after controlling current household resources. This suggests that relative power does affect resource allocation within household. Exploiting the fact that there we have multiple measures of child health, we test the hypothesis that it would be possible to re-allocate resources so that at least one household member may be better off without someone else being worse off. We reject this hypothesis and conclude that policies that seek to re-allocate resources within households may not be effective without fundamental shifts in the distribution of power between men and women within the society.