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This paper provides evidence of the effect of agricultural diversification and commercialization on the health of preschool children. We use a nationally representative sample of households taken from the Tanzania National Panel Survey (TNPS) to describe the correlations between agricultural diversification and commercialization on child nutrition. We find that engaging in contract farming for producing food crops has a negative effect on both nutritional stunting and wasting. Diversification only has a positive effect on child nutrition for children at the bottom of the nutritional distribution. The effect of commercialization vary by the type of crop produced and the position of children in the nutritional distribution. The results provide insight into the effects of agricultural diversification and commercialization on the household welfare.

This paper provides evidence of the effect of agricultural diversification and commercialization on the health of preschool children. We specifically look at the impact of diversification and commercialization on stunting, wasting and underweight by using a nationally representative sample of households taken from the Tanzania National Panel Survey (TNPS). We find that engaging in contract farming for producing food crops has a negative effect on stunting and wasting. Diversification only has a positive effect on stunting of children at the bottom of the nutritional distribution while commercialization effects vary according to the type of crop that the household sells and the position of children in the nutritional distribution. The results provide insight into the effects of policies that pursue agricultural diversification and commercialization on the household well-being.

This paper explores the relationship between income and eating behavior. To do this we examine choice in two food categories: milk and soft drinks. These categories have varieties differing in health qualities but either no differences in cost or lower cost for the healthier types. By examining food choices when there are no measurable cost differences but clear health differences, we are able to isolate the association between income and healthy eating behavior. We find a negative association between income and dietary intake of higher-calorie types of milk and soft drinks. Our estimates are consistent across the five sets of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals data that we study. For 2005 we estimate that an income increase of $10,000 is linked to a reduction in 377 calories from milk and 2,555 calories from soft drinks per year. Our results suggest that the cost of food may not be the only reason why low income people have less healthy diets.

Objective To examine associations between maternal employment and time spent engaging in nutrition-related behaviours among mothers and children using a nationally representative sample of households in West and East Germany. Design A cross-sectional analysis was performed using time-use data for a sample of mother child dyads. Associations between maternal employment and time spent in nutrition-related activities such as eating at home, eating away from home and food preparation were estimated using a double-hurdle model. Setting German Time Budget Survey 2001/02. Subjects The overall sample included 1071 households with a child between 10 and 17 years of age. The time-use data were collected for a 3 d period of observation (two weekdays and one weekend day). Results Maternal employment was associated with the time children spent on nutrition-related behaviours. In households with employed mothers, children spent more time eating alone at home and less time eating meals with their mothers. Moreover, employed mothers spent less time on meal preparation compared with non-employed mothers. There were regional differences in time spent on nutrition-related behaviours, such that East German children were more likely to eat at home alone than West German children. Conclusions Maternal employment was associated with less time spent eating with children and preparing food, which may be related to the increasing childhood obesity rates in Germany. Future national surveys that collect both time-use data and health outcomes could yield further insight into mechanisms by which maternal time use might be associated with health outcomes among children.

Low income populations are more severely affected by economic downturns than their high income counterparts because they are at high risk of unemployment and face reduced earnings in recessions. The use of food stamp benefits and other types of welfare are one mechanism that families can use to buffer the economic shock brought about by income losses due to unemployment during a recession. As a result, during unfavorable economic conditions, low income households disproportionately rely on public assistance including food stamps. What is less understood are the differential effects of macroeconomic conditions on the participation propensities of different population subgroups. Of particular importance are differential effects by age. Depending on their age, poor workers are likely to experience different patterns of unemployment so that their welfare participation patterns also differ. For example, once older workers lose their jobs, their probability of re-employment is lower than that of their younger counterparts. The reduced expectations of re-employment coupled with fewer opportunities to invest in re-training are discouraging to older unemployed persons, often implying that job losses for older workers are permanent, and eventually lead to long term reliance on welfare programs. In contrast, younger poor workers have comparatively higher chances of re-employment and exit from welfare. Whether the age differences in welfare participation will remain unchanged during economic recessions as well is still unanswered. Understanding variations in FSP participation propensities across age groups and their dependency on macroeconomic conditions is essential to predict future demand for food stamp benefits and, by extension, other welfare programs. The continuing growth in FSP demand may point to unexpectedly large fiscal burdens for future taxpayers. Moreover, understanding differential effects of macroeconomic conditions on participation propensities for different groups will allow policy makers to better identify and eventually reach genuine needy families. Therefore, this study aims to investigate FSP participation patterns with a special emphasis on the differential impact of macroeconomic factors across several demographic groups with a particular focus on age cohort effects. Specifically, transitions into and out of FSP will be explicitly addressed using longitudinal data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 2004 panel. To measure the impact of economic conditions, we match SIPP data with economic measures such as the unemployment rate and wages at the state level available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Using the data, monthly movements on and off of FSP of individuals is followed and categorized into entry sample and continuation sample. A household not participating in FSP in one month, and thus being part of the entry sample, can choose between entering or not entering FSP in the subsequent month. Similarly, a household enrolled in one month (and thus part of the continuation sample) can choose between either continuing to stay on FSP or exiting FSP in the next month. This gives rise to two types of transition models. The first model, referred to as the entry model, tackles the decision between entry versus non-entry into FSP, conditional on non-participation in the previous months. The second model, referred to as continuation model, addresses the decision between exiting from versus continuing FSP, conditional upon participation in the preceding month. Two transition models are estimated using probit technique while controlling for individual specific effects. This study finds several important results. First, there are significant age differences in entry into and exit from the FSP. The propensity of entry into the FSP among younger people is higher than among older people while young cohorts are more prone to exiting FSP than the oldest cohort of retired or retirement-bound people. The implication for the elderly is that once receiving FSP benefits, they are very likely to continue the FSP. Their observed low FSP participation rates can thus primarily be attributed to FSP entry barriers. Second, rising unemployment boosts FSP entry propensities and lengthens FSP spells. Changes in wage levels, however, affect neither entry nor exit propensities. Third, the effect of unemployment on FSP continuation propensities varies by age. The youngest cohort responds to increasing unemployment by drastically prolonging their FSP spells whereas the older extend their FSP spells more gradually. For the oldest cohort, FSP exit probabilities are even found to rise in association with rising unemployment, a phenomenon that can be explained by retirement and special transfer programs for the elderly.

This paper provides quantitative estimates of the effect of proximity to fast food restaurants and grocery stores on obesity in urban food markets. Our empirical model combined georeferenced micro data on access to fast food restaurants and grocery stores with data about salient personal characteristics, individual behaviors, and neighborhood characteristics. We defined a "local food environment" for every individual utilizing 0.5-mile buffers around a person's home address. Local food landscapes are potentially endogenous due to spatial sorting of the population and food outlets, and the body mass index (BMI) values for individuals living close to each other are likely to be spatially correlated because of observed and unobserved individual and neighborhood effects. The potential biases associated with endogeneity and spatial correlation were handled using spatial econometric estimation techniques. Our policy simulations for Indianapolis, Indiana, focused on the importance of reducing the density of fast food restaurants or increasing access to grocery stores. We accounted for spatial heterogeneity in both the policy instruments and individual neighborhoods, and consistently found small but statistically significant effects for the hypothesized relationships between individual BMI values and the densities of fast food restaurants and grocery stores.

Research on malnutrition typically focuses on severe cases, where anthropometric status falls below or above an extreme threshold. Such categorization is necessary for clinicians since mild cases may not justify intervention, but researchers could find that changes in mild malnutrition convey valuable information about mortality risk and health status. This paper focuses on changes in both mild and severe underweight in young children, as measured by 130 DHS surveys for 53 countries over a period from 1986 to 2007. We find that counting variance in all forms of underweight provides closer correlations with aggregate health outcomes (the under-five child mortality rate), and is more closely correlated to several influences of malnutrition (national income, gender equality and agricultural output). We conclude that the full distribution of nutritional status deserves greater attention, including in this case the prevalence of mild underweight among preschool children in developing countries.

This paper investigates the role that aspects of the physical environment play in determining health outcomes in adults as measured by body mass index (BMI). Using spatial econometric techniques that allow for spatial spillovers and feedback processes, this research specifically examines how differing levels of access to large chain grocers has on individual health outcomes. While other studies have investigated the impact of proximity to food retailers, the point-coordinate data used in this paper is uniquely suited to spatial econometric estimation at the individual level. In addition to modeling spatial dependence and allowing for unobserved neighborhood effects, the flexibility of the model is increased by incorporating potential spatial heterogeneity between wealthier and lower-income neighborhoods. Using survey responses tied to geographic location, demographic, behavioral, and access to chain grocers, this study finds evidence of spatial dependence pointing to locational impacts on BMI. The effect on individual health outcomes of retailer access improvements varies depending on neighborhood characteristics. Our findings suggest structural differences in the variation and sensitivity of BMI dependent jointly on individual and neighborhood characteristics.

Malnutrition is manifested in various degrees of both underweight and overweight, with large differences and rapid changes in their prevalence and severity. This paper introduces a new approach to characterizing the distribution of a population’s nutritional status, to help analyze changes in that distribution over time and across countries. Our method draws on the poverty literature to construct Foster-Greer-Thorbecke measures for the incidence and severity of under- and overweight, based on deviations in either direction from the median of a healthy population. We apply this median-based measure to the nutritional status of over 400,000 preschool children, as measured in 130 DHS surveys covering 53 countries over a period from 1986 to 2006. Unlike conventional threshold-based methods, the new approach counts changes in every child’s bodyweight. We find that this offers a more sensitive measure of differences across countries and changes over time, showing in particular that children’s bodyweights are closely linked to local agricultural output and gender equality as well as real GDP per capita.

Most developing countries strive to improve agricultural productivity by relaxing credit constraints, supplying better inputs, and improving marketing and distribution. However the efficacy of these reforms needs to be examined in the context of the behavioral responses of farming households. This study examines gender biases within households that affect short-term decisions with immediate and long-term implications. This study utilizes data from ICRISAT's village level studies in India (1975-85) to highlight the effects of child gender on the use of agricultural inputs. The main finding is that households with boys tend to use purchased inputs such as fertilizers and insecticides more intensively compared with households with girls. In general, household with boys also tend to have larger land holdings, and use animal and human labor to a greater extent than household with girls.

Paper is under revision. Removed at author's request 10/27/08.

Most developing countries strive to improve agricultural productivity by relaxing credit constraints, supplying better inputs, improving marketing and distribution. However the efficacy of these reforms needs to be examined in the context of the behavioral responses of farming households. This study examines gender biases within households that affect short-term investments in agriculture. The study utilizes data from ICRISATs village level studies in India (1975-85) to highlight the effects of child gender on the use of agricultural inputs. The main finding is that households with boys tend to use purchased inputs such as fertilizers and insecticides more intensively compared with households with girls. In general, household with boys also tend to have larger land holdings, and use animal and human labor to a greater extent than household with girls.