The unintended effects of cash transfers on fertility: evidence from the Safe Motherhood Scheme in India

India launched the Safe Motherhood Scheme (Janani Suraksha Yojana or JSY) in 2005 in response to persistently high maternal and child mortality rates. JSY provides a cash incentive to socioeconomically disadvantaged women for childbirth at health facilities. This study explores some unintended consequences of JSY. Using data from two large household surveys, we examine a policy variation that exploits the differential incentive structure under JSY across states and population subgroups. We find that JSY may have resulted in a 2.5–3.5 percentage point rise in the probability of childbirth or pregnancy over a 3-year period in states already experiencing high population growth.     

Smoking and Variation in the Hispanic Paradox: A Comparison of Low Birthweight Across 33 US States

The Hispanic Paradox in birth outcomes is well documented for the US as a whole, but little work has considered geographic variation underlying the national pattern. This inquiry is important given the rapid growth of the Hispanic population and its geographic dispersion. Using birth records data from 2014 through 2016, we document state variation in birthweight differentials between US-born white women and the three Hispanic populations with the largest numbers of births: US-born Mexican women, foreign-born Mexican women, and foreign-born Central and South American women. Our analyses reveal substantial geographic variation in Hispanic immigrant–white low-birthweight disparities. For example, Hispanic immigrants in Southeastern states and in some states from other regions have reduced risk of low birthweight relative to whites, consistent with a “Hispanic Paradox.” A significant portion of Hispanic immigrants’ birthweight advantage in these states is explained by lower rates of smoking relative to whites. However, Hispanic immigrants have higher rates of low birthweight in California and several other Western states. The different state patterns are largely driven by geographic variation in smoking among whites, rather than geographic differences in Hispanic immigrants’ birthweights. In contrast, US-born Mexicans generally have similar or slightly higher odds of low birthweight than whites across the US. Overall, we show that the Hispanic Paradox in birthweight varies quite dramatically by state, driven by geographic variation in low birthweight among whites associated with white smoking disparities across states.     

Variations in Women’s Heights across Social and Religious Groups Among Indian States

This paper uses the Indian National Family Health Survey data for the year 2005–2006 to draw comparisons of height among adult women across regions for minority groups like caste and religion. Inter-personal, regional and temporal comparisons are easier and effective using a non-monetary indicator of well-being like height which is also an indicator of long term nutritional status. The results of this study show that Muslim women have significant height advantage but with substantial variations across Indian states. Compared to Hindu women, differences in mean heights are lower across wealth quintiles and levels of educational attainment among Muslim women. Child birth during teens affects the final heights attained but only for the Hindus wherein this difference disappears after education level of the woman is controlled for, indicating that schooling delays early childbirth. The quantile regression model shows that Muslim women are taller than Hindu women across bottom, middle and top quartiles after controlling for other factors and that the gap increases over the quartiles.     

India's National Family Health Survey provides new information on maternal and child health and AIDS awareness

Teams surveyed a sample of 88,562 households, drawn from 99% of the population of India in 24 states plus the National Capital Territory of Delhi, between April 1992 and September 1993 to collect a basic set of information on all 500,492 household members, with more details on the 89,777 women in the households who had ever been married and were aged 13-49 years. This National Family Health Survey (NFHS) collected information from the women on a range of health topics including child immunization, women's knowledge of AIDS, services and facilities use during pregnancy and childbirth, infant feeding and treatment for diarrhea, and infant, child, and maternal mortality. Levels of infant and child mortality declined in India, but 8% of all children still die before their first birthday and 11% die before reaching age 5. As for maternal mortality, there are an estimated 420 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births annually. That rate implies that at least 100,000 Indian women die each year due to causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Survey results indicate the need to strengthen vaccination programs and teach women about proper infant feeding practices. They also highlight the need to increase antenatal care and other medical services. In all of these areas, the NFHS results indicate wide variation among India's regions and states. Furthermore, a general lack of AIDS awareness suggests that the government's AIDS awareness campaign, relying primarily upon electronic media, has not yet reached the majority of India's population.     

Gender disparities in completing school education in India: explaining geographical variations

Researchers in demography, the labour market and health have observed that North Indian women face greater discrimination than women in other zones. This study examines whether a similar pattern is replicated with respect to completion of school education. We find that gender disparities are higher in northern states in rural areas. In urban areas, however, eastern states display greater disparities. This is also confirmed if we control for household traits, community characteristics and the regional context. However, when we decompose the differences in probability of completing school education across gender, the contribution of the control variables is found to be insignificant, relative to that of the coefficient effect (which is sometimes put forward as a measure of discrimination) in both rural and urban areas of Eastern India. The divergence in regional pattern of gender disparity from patterns observed for demographic and health indicators shows that gender discrimination is a complex multilayered phenomenon and the interaction between these layers may assume unexpected forms.     

Examining cross-state variation in the increase in father-only families

Each state has the power to establish its own policy and laws relating to child custody determination. The number of single-parent families with children that are headed by fathers has been growing in the United States. This paper explores the extent of cross-state variation in the prevalence in father-only families in 1990, and the extent to which there was cross-state variation in the increase in father-only families in the 1980s. The 1980 and 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) drawn from the US decennial censuses are used. Decomposition analyses of growth indicate that increases in the number of father-only families occurred across all states during this period, but at varying rates. The primary reason for the increase in most states is an increase in the proportion of ever-married single-parent families that are headed by a father. It is for these families that are headed by divorced or separated parents that state policy relating to child custody determination is most relevant.     

Pattern of Regional Disparities in Socio-economic Development in India: District Level Analysis

The study assesses the pattern of disparities in socio-economic development at the district level in India applying the Wroclow Taxonomic technique (following Ewusi. Social Indicators Research 3(1) 75–110, 1976, and Arief. Social Indicators Research 11(3) 259–267, 1982) based upon optimal combination of selected socio-economic development indicators. In order to get a clear picture of regional socio-economic disparities in India, the level of development is assessed separately for agriculture, industrial and infrastructural sectors and the districts are classified into four development categories according to the values of the constructed development index. For bringing about uniform regional development and improving the quality-of-life, model districts for disadvantaged districts have been identified and potential targets for various social amenities have been estimated. An attempt has also been made to compare the levels of socio-economic development among various regions in India. The constructed socio-economic development index shows that India’s Southern region is far more and symmetrically developed in comparison of Central and Northern regions. The results show that wide disparities in the level of socio-economic development exist among different districts within and between different regions of India. The level of development in infrastructural service sector is found to be positively and statistically significantly associated with the overall socio-economic development indicating that the growth and progress of the sectors have been going hand in hand in the country. The results show that in Northern and Central regions of India the level of industrial development does not significantly influence the agricultural and overall socio-economic development while agricultural development influences overall socio-economic development. The study suggests that low developed districts require improvement in most of the indicators for enhancing their levels of overall socio-economic development.     

A Human Development Index for the Dalit Child in India

There have been many attempts to measure the quality of life of society in general (such as the Human Development Index of UNDP), or of children in particular (Jordan 1993; Corrie 1994). This article constructs a Human Development Index (HDI) for the Dalit Child in India following the methodology used by UNDP (1990) to construct a human development index for the countries of the world. Dalits (also known as Untouchables, Harijans, Scheduled Castes) have and continue to be a marginalised group in India. Section 1 presents the indicators used to construct the HDI for the Dalit child in India. Section 2 presents the rationale for the choice of the indicators chosen. Section 3 presents the methodology used to construct the HDI for the Dalit child in India. Finally, Section 4 presents the relative ranking of 15 states in India based on the level of human development as reflected in the HDI constructed for the Dalit child. It also compares the HDI rankings from perspective of the Dalit Child in India with a recent HDI constructed for 17 states in India using similar indicators as UNDP (1990). The policy usefulness of this human development index for the Dalit child in India is that it could serve as an indicator of the social progress achieved in India as the country attempts to fulfill its constitutional vision of equality for all citizens.     

Turning back the ticking clock: the effect of increased affordability of assisted reproductive technology on women’s marriage timing

This paper exploits variation in the mandated insurance coverage of assisted reproductive technology (ART) across US states and over time to examine the connection between increased access to ART and female marriage timing. Since ART increases the probability of pregnancy for older women of reproductive age, greater access to ART will make marriage delay less costly for younger single women of reproductive age. Linear probability models are estimated to investigate the effects of ART state insurance mandates on changes in marital status of women in different age groups using the 1977–2010 Current Population Survey. Results show that greater access to ART is associated with marital delay for white (but not for black) women: white women in states with an ART insurance mandate are significantly less likely to marry between the 20–24, 25–29, and 30–34 age ranges, but significantly more likely to marry between the 30–34 and 35–39 age ranges.     

Rainfall variations and child mortality in the Sahel: results from a comparative event history analysis in Burkina Faso and Mali

Over the last 40 years, the Sahel has seen a long-term downward trend in rainfall. The importance of ecological variables as factors affecting child survival in rural subsistence societies has already been emphasized, but little empirical evidence has been gathered to support this. This paper presents a comparative event history analysis aimed at understanding how rainfall variations may influence child mortality in two neighbouring countries, Burkina Faso and Mali. These countries are similar in terms of population dynamics, economy, livelihood, child mortality and rainfall conditions (i.e. strong south–north decreasing rainfall gradient). Individual data for both countries came from two detailed nationally representative retrospective surveys conducted in 2000. Rainfall data for the 1960–1998 time period were obtained from the Climatic Research Unit. This study shows that child survival in each country is related to specific patterns of rainfall variation across livelihood regions, highlighting the complex nature of environmental causality of child mortality.     

Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis to Leverage Social Indicator Databases: The Discovery of Interesting Patterns

With the proliferation of social indicator databases, the need for powerful techniques to study patterns of change has grown. In this paper, the utility of spatial data analytical methods such as exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) is suggested as a means to leverage the information contained in social indicator databases. The principles underlying ESDA are illustrated using a study of clusters and outliers based on data for a child risk scale computed for countries in the state of Virginia. Evidence of spatial clusters of high child risks is obtained along the Southern region of Virginia. The utility of spatial methods for state agencies in monitoring social indicators at various localities is discussed. A six-step framework that integrates spatial analysis of key indicators within a monitoring framework is presented; we argue that such a framework could be useful in enhancing communication between State and local planners. Given cost considerations, the original color figures have been printed in black and white in this article. The color figures can be obtained from http://www.chs.med.ed.ac.uk/rubhc/evaluation/     

Maternal Smoking and Infant Low Birth Weight: Exploring the Biological Mechanism Through the Mother’s Pre-pregnancy Weight Status

Maternal smoking has been found to adversely affect birth outcomes, such as increasing the odds of having low birth weight infants. However, the mechanisms explaining how a mother’s smoking is linked to a child’s low birth weight status are underexplored. This study merged two nationally representative datasets in the United States (US)—the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult (NLSYCYA)—to examine whether maternal weight status before pregnancy serves as a biological mechanism. We applied a recently developed mediation analysis technique to a data sample of 6550 mother–child pairs, and we compared the estimated coefficients across nested probability models. We found that maternal body mass index (BMI) (in kg/m²), a widely used measure of weight status, reduces the odds of delivering a low birth weight infant, and this mechanism explains about 10.2% of the adverse impact of maternal smoking on having a low birth weight child. Moreover, when categorizing maternal pre-pregnancy BMI into four weight statuses (i.e., underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese), we found that, in contrast to mothers with normal weight status, underweight mothers are 70% more likely to have a low birth weight child. Our findings suggest that maternal weight status plays a role in understanding how maternal smoking affects low birth weight outcome, indicating that maintaining a proper weight status for women who plan to give birth may be a possible policy to promote infant health.

     

Indicators and Indices of Child Well-being: A Brief American History

This paper traces the history of indicators and indices of child well-being from its origins in the social indicator movement of the 1970s through recent developments in the field. Initial work calling for comprehensive sets of indicators of child well-being and later recommendations for indicator improvement are detailed. Products that resulted from these recommendations, such as comprehensive indicator reports and online resources are described. The development of child well-being indices is shown to parallel the history of indicators. The contributions of state and international indicator and index projects are included as well. Important aspects of child well-being indicator development are uncovered through documenting its history, including the need to focus on subjective as well as objective measures of well-being, and the need to develop indicators for the multiple ecological contexts of children’s lives, but to separate measures of context from measures of child outcomes. A rough consensus emerges across the history of indicator efforts on the critical domains of child well-being: physical, psychological, cognitive, social, and economic well-being. Recent recognition of the importance of indicators of positive development is noted. This paper was funded by the KIDS COUNT project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.     

Household structure and child nutrition: A reinterpretation of income and mother's education

Two frequently used predictors of child malnutrition are family income and mother's education. Despite their common sense rationale, they pose difficult and perhaps intractable problems of measurement and conceptualization. This paper proposes to substitute the concepts of family and maternal differentiation for these traditionally used indicators. Differentiation is defined as the capacity of the individual or group to process a diversity of information categories. Using data from a recent survey of households in Panama, indicators of this concept were constructed at the family and at the maternal levels using principal component analysis. These are shown to predict a range of indicators of childrens' nutritional status when appropriate control variables are included in the regression analysis. The same analysis was then repeated with income and mother's education replacing the differentiation measures. The results support our claim that the differentiation indicators are superior, and we argue that an even more important reason for using them is that they open the door to a long-term research program that is theoretically consistent and potentially cumulative.     

Regional disparities in Malaysia

Visualizing the level of living as a level of satisfaction of the needs of the population assured by a given flow of goods and services in a unit of time, several sets of components which are judged capable of representing the various aspects of the level of living are chosen for eleven states of Malaysia. Indices of levels of living disparities, within the framework developed by Frederick Harbison and associates, which are called ‘pattern of development’ and ‘measure of development’ are established for eleven states of Malaysia based on 16 socio-economic indicators in order to get a clear picture of regional socio-economic disparities in this country.     

A New Perspective on Violent Crime Burden Index: Evidence from Indian Districts

Given limited resource availability in a developing nation like India, faced with high incidences of crime, it is important to optimize on the resources spent in combating crime by channelling them to proper direction. This requires an understanding of the actual and overall level of crime across India. Our paper provides a complete understanding of the various indicators of violent crime and the determinants of these crimes in India using district level data for three census years, namely, 1981, 1991 and 2001. We construct three alternative crime-burden indices. Including a variable like voter turnout in state election at the district level, we document significant impact of public awareness to reduce and combat crime. The constructed crime burden index shows that states located in northern parts of India have more incidences of crime compared to states in the south. We also find that our estimated crime-burden indices tend to report in general a higher level of crime-burden than the average based index. This suggests controlling for the factors beyond population while constructing the aggregate crime-burden index for any country is essential. Our work although is limited to the Indian data, we however, believe that this can be easily applied to various other countries.     

Spatial variation in contraceptive use in Bangladesh: Looking Beyond the borders

This article promotes a more complete understanding of social change by analyzing spatial patterns of contraceptive use in Bangladesh and the contiguous state of West Bengal in India. Multilevel analyses that control for variations in individual- and household-level correlates show an important role for cross-border influences only in those districts that share a common language across the border. The districts that are positive outliers in contraception hug the Bangladesh-West Bengal border. A map of outliers shows that the positive outliers form a contiguous band in a manner suggestive of a role for contagion.     

Joint custody law and mothers’ labor market outcomes: evidence from the USA

This paper studies the economic implications for mothers of the changes in child custody law from maternal preference to joint custody using the 1960–2000 Census Public Use Micro Sample (IPUMS). Variation in the timing of the joint custody reform across states provides a natural experimental framework to study the causal effect of shared custody on mothers’ economic outcomes. The results show that only single mothers experience a decrease in earnings as a consequence of the adoption of the joint custody law, exposing them to a higher risk of poverty. The paper discusses a possible explanation for these findings, namely that the higher child support payment the mother receives from the non-custodial father in case of joint custody might discourage her from looking for high paid jobs or investing in her career.     

The First Fifty Years – A Tribute to E. Grebenik

India is a country with a pervasive preference for sons and one of the highest levels of excess child mortality for girls in the world (child mortality for girls exceeds child mortality for boys by 43 per cent). In this article, data from the National Family Health Survey are used to examine the effect of son preference on parity progression and ultimately on child mortality. The demographic effects of family composition are estimated with hazard models. The analysis indicates that son preference fundamentally affects demographic behaviour in India. Family composition affects fertility behaviour in every state examined and son preference is the predominant influence in all but one of these states. The effects of family composition on excess child mortality for girls are more complex, but girls with older sisters are often subject to the highest risk of mortality.     

The Determinants of Low Fertility in India

Using a conceptual framework focusing on factors that enhance or reduce fertility relative to desired family size (see Bongaarts 2001), we study fertility variation across time (1992–2006) and space (states) in India. Our empirical analyses use data from three waves of the Indian National Family Health Surveys. We find that this framework can account for a substantial portion of the variation in the total fertility rate (TFR) over time and across states. Our estimates focus attention on the critical components of contemporary Indian fertility, especially desired family size, unwanted fertility, son preference, and fertility postponement.