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This article examines the saving behaviour of remittance recipients in Ethiopia and Kenya. The few existing estimates of savings from remittances, often obtained indirectly using expenditure analysis, vary widely. The analysis presented here relies on ordinal saving categories reported in response to a direct survey question. The results reveal that the savings rate is higher in Kenya than Ethiopia, in the raw data and the multivariate model, although in both countries it rises with receipt size. Interestingly, gender is a robust predictor of differential savings, albeit with a contrasting pattern: women save more than men in Ethiopia, while the reverse is true in Kenya. In other results, a pre-migration agreement about remittances has a strong positive effect on savings. Savings rates are also positively associated with financial inclusion in Ethiopia and formal channel flows in Kenya. Many of these results are confirmed by analysis of broader forms of saving/investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines gender bias in the parental education-child status link using data from urban Ethiopia. Gender bias is defined here, specifically, as the differential impact of a parent's education on a child's status depending on the gender of the parent vis-à-vis the child. Children's status is measured by school enrolment and participation in market work. Results from a basic model point to same-gender bias - father-son, mother-daughter in school enrolment and father-son in market work. In an extended model, results show that father-son bias in market work may be particularly pertinent for middle- to later-born children. Policy interventions should be mindful of such differential effects, particularly if the aim is to address persistent gender disparities in children's status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the full insurance and related hypotheses using data from urban households in Ethiopia. Whereas consumption insurance tests have focused on rural areas of developing countries, much less is known about the urban poor who remain precariously positioned in terms of consumption insurance—owing both to weak social bonding that undermines informal arrangements and thin formal insurance and financial markets. Results from OLS and GMM estimations provide evidence to this effect and show that full insurance is strongly rejected for various income and consumption categories even at the local level. The results do suggest however that partial insurance may be taking place though only among the most vulnerable. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]