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Good data on the size and composition of the independent contractor workforce are elusive. The authors carried out a series of focus groups to learn how independent contractors speak about their work. Based on those findings, they designed and fielded a telephone survey to elicit more accurate and complete information on independent contractors. Roughly 1 in 10 workers who initially reported working for an employer on one or more jobs (and thus were coded as employees) were independent contractors on at least one of those jobs. Incorporating these miscoded workers into estimates of main job work arrangements nearly doubles the share who are independent contractors to approximately 15% of all workers. Taking these workers into account substantively changes the demographic profile of the independent contractor workforce. Probing in household surveys to clarify a worker's employment arrangement and identify all low-hours work is critical for accurately measuring independent contractor work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This study analyses and compares the determinants of inflation expectations among households and professional forecasters in India. To this end, we utilize quarterly survey data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), specifically the Inflation Expectations Survey of Households (IESH) and the Professional Forecasters’ Survey (SPF). The analysis employs a non‐recursive structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model to explore the relationships between variables. The impulse response function and variance decomposition analysis shed light on the response of inflation expectations to macroeconomic shocks. Our findings indicate that apart from conventional macroeconomic factors like realized inflation and monetary policy, exogenous factors such as oil prices significantly shape inflation expectations. Comparing IESH and SPF, we found out that household expectations are more sensitive to shocks related to food prices, reflecting the influence of food expenses on household decision‐making. Conversely, professional forecasters’ expectations are more influenced by core inflation. Finally, we observed that inflation expectations adjust more quickly than realized inflation in response to macroeconomic shocks, suggesting a leading role. This study is novel with the contribution to the existing literature as it provides a comparative analysis of determinants of inflation expectations between households and professional forecasters in India, while also considering inflation targeting as a significant factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractUsing data from the China Household Finance Survey spanning 2015–2019, we investigate the relationship between family involvement and self-employment survival. Instrumental variables are used to address the potential endogeneity of family involvement. We show that family involvement is crucial in reducing self-employment exit. This significant effect is more pronounced in elderly self-employed and self-employed with children aged 0–5. The underlying mechanisms reveal that family members’ participation in self-employment flexibly allocates idle household labor and improves the household employment rate. Meanwhile, self-employment with family involvement may have better access to credit and better performance, thus enhancing self-employment survival. Our findings are validated by robustness checks, including a discrete time complementary log–log model and estimations using alternative measurements of family involvement and self-employment exit. Our study has useful implications for policy-makers to stimulate family involvement to promote self-employment survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Informing local decision-making, improving service delivery and designing household surveys require having access to high-spatial resolution mapping of the targeted population. However, this detailed spatial information remains unavailable for specific population subgroups, such as refugees, a vulnerable group that would significantly benefit from focused interventions. Given the continuous increase in the number of refugees, reaching an all-time high of 35.3 million people in 2022, it is imperative to develop models that can accurately inform about their spatial locations, enabling better and more tailored assistance. Methods: We leverage routinely collected registration data on refugees and combine it with high-resolution population maps, satellite imagery derived settlement maps and other spatial covariates to disaggregate observed refugee totals into 100-m grid cells. We suggest a deterministic grid cell allocation inside monitored refugee sites based on building count and a random-forest-derived grid cell allocation outside refugee sites based on geolocating the textual geographic information in the refugee register and on high-resolution population mapping. We test the method in Cameroon using the registration database monitored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Results: Using OpenStreetMap, 83% of the manually inputted information in the registration database could be geolocated. The building footprint layer derived from satellite imagery by Ecopia AI offers extensive coverage within monitored refugee sites, although manual digitization was still required in rapidly evolving settings. The high-resolution mapping of refugees on a 100-m grid basis provides an unparalleled level of spatial detail, enabling valuable geospatial insights for informed local decision-making. Conclusions: Gathering information on forcibly displaced persons in sparse data-setting environment can quickly become very costly. Therefore, it is critical to gain the most knowledge from operational data that is frequently collected, such as registration databases. Integrating it with ancillary information derived from satellite imagery paves the way for obtaining more timely and spatially precise information to better deliver services and enhance sampling frame for target data collection exercises that further improves the quality of information on people in need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Food security has become a major global concern, particularly in urban areas where households are struggling to address the issue of basic necessities mainly food that crucially dictates human health. Overcoming these challenges will require effective management mechanisms to inform policy interventions and enhance resilience at both local and global levels. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the coping strategies (CS) pursued by urban households in the Southern Ethiopia. Furthermore, the focus is on how households to cope with food insecurity and how using these strategies varies within households. Methods: A household survey questionnaire was conducted using a cross‐sectional design, combining both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data. A total of 310 household heads were targeted for the required data acquisition with: The coping strategy index (CSI) to capture how people perceive and cope with food insecurity that threatens human health. Results: The results indicate that households used the top seven CS to address the problem of food insecurity: limiting the size of portions at mealtimes (83.9%), depending on less expensive or seasonal foods (68.1%), reducing adult consumption (66.1%), reducing the amount of food consumed (65.8%), purchasing food on credit (60.3%), renting household assets (54.8%), and migrating household members for wage labor (53.5%). Conclusion: Moreover, the finding shows that the frequency of CS used by urban households in response to food insecurity is rated differently as never, rarely, sometimes, and more than 4 times per week. Therefore, targeted support programs for vulnerable groups should be implemented to ensure they receive adequate food during times of food insecurity wherein the victims' health status is imperatively to be bettered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between working poverty and informality, based on the Argentine case of the last two decades. We examine the net effect of labor informality on monetary poverty and under which labor, socio-demographic, and family conditions informality is more strongly associated with poverty. We use micro data from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses' (indec) Permanent Household Survey and apply microsimulations and multivariate analysis. The results show that informality is a structural component of the urban labor market and that the net effect of informality is relevant and sustained over time. However, they also reveal that the relationship between informality and poverty is not straightforward: most informal insertions are not directly linked to economic deprivation. The risk of poverty among the informally employed is explained not only by the characteristics of their occupations, but also by sociodemographic characteristics, dependency rates in their households, and the low protective capacity of social benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research intends to shed light on the household migration decision‐making process of Ethiopian irregular migrants heading to the Republic of South Africa. Data were drawn from a cross‐sectional household survey (n = 659) and in‐depth interviews (n = 24) conducted in 2022. Descriptive statistics, binary logistic regressions and thematic analysis were employed to analyse the data. Our findings reveal that being a young male, having a large household size, the presence of family members and smugglers positively influence households' decisions for irregular migration. Possession of farmland, being employed and married have a negative influence on household decisions for migration. The study findings further show that prior information about the migration destination is important in the household's migration decision‐making process. We suggest that government actions and policy interventions should be based on such empirical evidence to promote safe and regular migrations while addressing potential migrants' aspirations and needs in their pursuit of a better life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We contribute to the higher education returns discourse by examining perceptions among college graduates. Using 2021 U.S. Survey of Household Economics of Decisionmaking data, we observe that over 80% of degree holders perceive that they received positive financial returns from college, while only 7% of college degree holders regret their decision to go to university. However, 39% regret their major choice, and 24% regret their institution choice. Logistic regression reveals perceptions and regrets vary with field of study, gender, type of institution attended, student debt load, and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contaduría y Administración is the property of Facultad de Contaduria y Administracion-Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigates whether the British pattern of an early transition from school to work persists. We apply sequence analysis to data from the British Household Panel Survey and the U.K. Household Longitudinal Study to study how education and employment trajectories of young adults born in 1974–1990 differ by 5‐year birth cohort, gender, and socioeconomic background. The distinctive British early transition from school to work is still prevalent, although trajectories have become more complex and precarious with an increase in part‐time employment and prolonged stays in education among the youngest cohorts. Occupational outcomes of highly educated men and women were similar. However, women who did not continue education were more likely to experience turbulent transitions with longer spells of part‐time work and inactivity. The proportion of university graduates from lower socioeconomic backgrounds has increased, yet their chances of being in professional and managerial occupations remain significantly lower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Documentos de Trabajo del CEDLAS is the property of Universidad Nacional de La Plata and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines how households reacted to the dismantling of the one-child policy, which China relaxed in 2013 and eliminated prior to 2017. We use household survey data and a series of regressions to show that birth rates, female labor force participation, and household saving rates have already changed. Between 2015 and 2017, the proportion of households with children having more than one child increased by at least five percentage points. Moreover, within households adding another child, female labor force participation and saving rates significantly decreased. Our paper contributes to the empirical literature on the economic impacts of pro-fertility policies and has implications for the theories of why households save. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child malnutrition is one of the major causes of child morbidity and mortality around the globe especially in developing countries. The current study attempts to investigate the factors that contribute to malnutrition captured through WAZ (weight for age) among children in the Cholistan desert area of Punjab, Pakistan. Out of 900 households surveyed, 584 households were identified, having a sample of 1059 children aged between 0 and 59 months. The logit, multilevel logit, generalized linear mixed model, and generalized linear latent and mixed model approaches were employed to analyze the collected data. The findings reveal that the wealth index of households, mother's age at birth of a child, birth order of the child, duration of breastfeeding, distance to the basic health unit, and use of protected/clean water significantly affect children for being underweight. The policy recommendations are made in line with the study findings to suggest ways that can reduce prevalance of underweight children in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Rural Observatory System (ROS) was established in Madagascar to address the lack of socioeconomic data on rural areas. It collected, analyzed, and disseminated data to help formulate and evaluate development policies. From 1995 to 2015, the ROS surveyed a total of 26 areas. The ROS methodology involved annual household panel surveys using consistent questionnaires supplemented by modules covering new themes. Qualitative community surveys were used to understand local features and dynamics. The site selection combined quantitative and qualitative insights to reflect the diversity of Madagascar's rural challenges. Quality control was comprehensive, with measures such as limiting the number of daily surveyor interviews and daily field supervision. By making this data available for 21 consecutive years, along with documentation, metadata, and code with analysis examples, we aim to facilitate their discovery, assessment, and understanding by researchers, policymakers, and social organizations. To our knowledge, this is the only available data for an in-depth analysis of the situation and trends in the rural areas of Madagascar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Design Setting and participants Measurements Findings Conclusions To measure the association between state cannabis policies and use among adults and youth in the United States from 2002 to 2019, given rapid policy liberalization and complex state cannabis policy environments.Repeated cross‐sectional time series analysis. Three sets of models assessed the linear association between the Cannabis Policy Scale (CPS), an aggregate measure of 17 state cannabis policy areas that weights each policy by its efficacy and implementation rating, and prevalence of cannabis use. The first included year and state fixed effects; the second added state‐level controls; the third replaced state fixed effects with state random effects. Standard errors were clustered at the state level in all models.United States.Past‐month prevalence of cannabis use is from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health Small Area Estimates, a nationally and state‐representative cross‐sectional survey of household population ages 12 and older for years 2002–2003 to 2018–2019. Exposure data include the CPS.A 10 percentage‐point increase in the CPS (i.e. greater cannabis policy restrictiveness) was associated with lower past‐month use prevalence by 0.81 (95% confidence interval [CI] = ‐1.05 to −0.56) to 0.97 (95% CI = ‐1.19 to −0.75) percentage‐points for the population ages 12 years and older. When models were stratified by age, a 10 percentage‐point increase in the CPS was associated with a 0.87 (95% CI = ‐1.13 to −0.61) to 1.04 percentage‐point (95% CI = ‐1.03 to −0.84) reduction in past‐month use prevalence for adults ages 18 years and older, and a 0.17 (95% CI = ‐0.24 to −0.09) to 0.21 percentage‐point (95% CI = ‐0.35 to −0.07) reduction for youth ages 12–17 years.More restrictive US cannabis policies appear to be associated with reduced cannabis use for both adults and youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safe and enduring water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for all is the key target of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Despite progress in global WASH monitoring to support SDG 6, significant data gaps persist, especially in urban informal settlements in the Melanesian Pacific Region. This study aimed to improve understanding of existing sanitation systems, residents' preferences, and climate hazard exposure in these areas. Household surveys were conducted with 393 households in Suva (Fiji) and Port Vila (Vanuatu). Water availability for sanitation was high in Suva (99%) and Port Vila (70%), with noted improvements in sanitation superstructure. However, dry pits without slabs remain significant (15%) in Port Vila. The preference for water-based systems highlights the need for a resilient sanitation service chain, including adequate faecal sludge management, which was problematic in both locations. Reports of climate-driven hazard damage were more frequent in Vanuatu, with one in three respondents reporting impacts on their sanitation services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A quasi-experimental comparative trial will be designed in Burkina Faso. The study will compare the use and preferences for two groups types of insecticide-treated nets textile: polyester-based and polyethylene-based, according to their use and preferences in selected health districts. These health districts will be selected in three eco-climate zones (Sahelian, dry savannah and wet savannah) in the country. These findings will inform decisions on future net procurements for national malaria control programme in 2025. Methods: Quantitative surveys and qualitative data collection will be carried out to gather information on the type of net textile most commonly used and preferred by the community. They will be performed between the end of the dry season and the early rainy season. The quantitative surveys involved household interviews with households and individuals' questionnaires, while the qualitative data collection involved in-depth individual interviews and focus group discussions to explore and clarify some key evaluation criteria. A total of 9450 insecticide-treated nets were surveyed for quantitative survey purposes. For the qualitative study, 48 in-depth individual interviews and 12 focus group discussions were carried out. A mixed model approach combining the results from quantitative surveys and qualitative studies will be used for decision-making on the type of insecticide-treated net preference. Conclusion: This methodological approach will be used by the National Malaria Control Programme to conduct this study on determinants of net use in Burkina Faso in order to provide robust evidence across diverse settings. This mixed-methods approach for data collection and analysis could be used in other countries to provide evidence that would help to increase the uptake of insecticide-treated nets, the main vector control tool in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study undertakes a meticulous examination of the Livelihood Strategy Diversity Index (LSDI) and its nuanced implications on household welfare in heterogeneous regions of rural Vietnam. Employing a unique panel dataset derived from the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS) spanning from 2010 to 2018, the study employs both Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and instrumental variable (IV) methods to investigate the intricate relationship between LSDI and household welfare, with a specific focus on income and dietary diversity. The empirical findings reveal compelling evidence of pronounced regional heterogeneity, highlighting the distinctive impacts of the LSDI on household welfare across diverse geographical areas. This study underscores the importance of region-specific strategies, advocating for a tailored and diversified approach to agricultural activities aligned with the unique context of each region. Furthermore, the findings emphasize the pivotal role of consolidating small plots as a strategic measure to alleviate agricultural land fragmentation, offering valuable insights into region-specific interventions for the enhancement of household well-being, encompassing both income and nutritional diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cats, including companion cats, inflict extensive harm on wildlife. Using a national survey of 2000 households in New Zealand, we investigated the influence of involvement (an indicator of motivation) on the willingness of cat owners to keep their cats indoors at night. We found that respondents' intentions to protect wildlife, and the frequency with which respondents with cats kept them indoors at night, was influenced by their involvement with cat welfare and their involvement with protecting wildlife, in addition to their attitudes and subjective norms. We also found that keeping cats indoors at night could be characterised as involving approach-avoidance conflict. Our findings have implications for efforts to increase the adoption by cat owners of keeping cats inside at night regarding the attentiveness of cat owners to promotional activities. Our findings suggest that such activities will not be particularly effective in the absence of cat-friendly, inexpensive, practical, and easily maintained devices that enable cats to be kept inside. Importantly, when the adoption of keeping cats inside at night is appropriately characterised as approach-avoidance conflict, our results suggest that promotional activities seeking to persuade cat owners that pet cats cause much greater harm to wildlife than they might believe are most likely to have a limited and likely temporary effect and may even be counterproductive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large and growing denominational diversity of sub-Saharan Christianity has attracted considerable scholarly attention, but its implications for individual experiences and well-being remain poorly understood. I examine women's perceptions, assessments, and practices in everyday construction of church idiosyncrasies, clustering, and hierarchies and women's abilities and propensities to navigate along and across the corresponding organisational boundaries in a predominantly Christian setting in rural Mozambique. The analysis uses a combination of data from a census of religious congregations, a household survey, in-depth interviews, and participant observation conducted over a decade. It demonstrates that women's church involvement is socially indispensable yet also subjectively non-binding. Accordingly, church boundaries, while clearly delineated and recognised, are also seen as highly permeable. This permeability facilitates the crossing of those boundaries but may also disincentivise such crossing. Although rural women are increasingly capable of navigating through the religious space, they are generally precluded from exiting that space altogether, as secular options for non-family social anchoring remain very limited in this and other similar low-income patriarchal contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since care is an essential part of our individual and collective survival, there is the challenge to explore how care operates through daily mobility patterns in urban settings. This paper utilizes the concept of 'mobility of care' to quantitatively assess care-related trips in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) using an official household travel survey. We analyse the factors linked to care-related trips at the individual, household, and territorial levels and examine their correlation with transportation modes. Our results reveal that care-related trips form a significant portion of everyday mobility in a Mediterranean metropolis such as Barcelona. Notably, mobility of care is more relevant among women, increases with age and the presence of dependents in the household, particularly minors. Active modes of transportation, primarily in densely populated urban areas, dominate care-related mobility in Barcelona. Finally, our findings suggests that while the concept of mobility of care helps to conceptualizing a key part of our daily reality and helps identifying possible social inequalities, it is still necessary to account and understand specific care-related purposes. The study's findings will contribute to advancing research on the mobility of care and informing urban policymakers in their pursuit of sustainable and equitable cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we develop a unified regression approach to model unconditional quantiles, M-quantiles and expectiles of multivariate dependent variables exploiting the multidimensional Huber's function. To assess the impact of changes in the covariates across the entire unconditional distribution of the responses, we extend the work of Firpo, Fortin, and Lemieux by running a mean regression of the recentered influence function on the explanatory variables. We discuss the estimation procedure and establish the asymptotic properties of the derived estimators. A data-driven procedure is also presented to select the tuning constant of the Huber's function. The validity of the proposed methodology is explored with simulation studies and through an application using the Survey of Household Income and Wealth 2016 conducted by the Bank of Italy. for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the article is to provide insights into the prevalence of internal and external organ illnesses in Brokenhead Ojibwa (Indigenous peoples of southern Canada and Midwestern USA) Nation, and their relationship with those cultural variables that the scholarly literature indicates as determinants of Indigenous health. The data were collected through a household survey. Both the descriptive results and correlation analysis indicate that hunting and trapping are negatively correlated with external organ illnesses. Likewise, education and income are negatively correlated with external and internal organ illness prevalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As rural places and people are increasingly intertwined between cities, markets and mobility, broader perspectives are needed to examine the multiple changes occurring between rural and urban spaces, and between families and generations. This article discusses how a generational perspective can study 'more‐than‐rural' change in a contemporaneous manner. Drawing on field examples from a village on Flores Island, Indonesia, I show how intergenerational views, gathered through household surveys and in‐depth interviews, gave further depth to younger generations' changing relationships to land. Why, despite greater numbers of young people leaving the village for greater work and study opportunities elsewhere, were many parents sure their children would return one day? Using intergenerational and life‐course views to answer this question revealed how many villagers encountered livelihood limitations elsewhere. Furthermore, I show how generational data give fuller explanations to household dynamics, such as how age and gender play a role in the pursuit of migration between family members, and how rural land and households are managed over time and space. I conclude by discussing the strengths and challenges of building a generational perspective to study 'more‐than‐rural' livelihood change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated the impact of the displacement project on land and income inequalities in Koto Panjang resettlement villages of Riau Province of Indonesia. The displaced households received equally compensated land before the project's operation. We took that displacement as a treatment and conducted a with-and-without project comparison to the changes in the household economy, putting the non-displaced households as counterfactual. Using the 2003 and 2013 Indonesian Agricultural Household Income Survey, we found that the displaced areas had equally distributed land but unequally distributed income. In addition, both land and income levels were higher in the displaced than in the non-displaced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, the causal relationship between climate change and migration has gained increasing prominence in international research and policy. Despite recent advances in conceptual frameworks and applied techniques, the empirical evidence does not provide clear‐cut conclusions, mainly due to the intrinsic complexity of the phenomenon of interest, the irreducible heterogeneity of the transmission mechanisms, some common misconceptions, and, in particular, the paucity of adequate data. In this work, we present the first data‐oriented review of the nexus between climate change and migration. Then, we discuss open issues and assess the main data gaps that currently prevent more robust quantifications. Finally, using a prominent survey collection produced by the World Bank as a case study, we highlight opportunities for exploiting and enhancing the potential of existing multi‐topic and multi‐purpose household survey datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents stylised facts on the labour supply and income inequality of individuals aged 25–55, drawn from the 1989–2020 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth. Over the sample period, earnings inequality has increased considerably although the gap is smaller when considered in terms of household disposable income. We investigate the possible drivers of this increase using administrative data on employees. The evidence suggests that labour market reforms implemented since the start of the 1990s are the most plausible explanation for this growth in earnings inequality. Comparison between earnings and disposable income suggests that both government and households are important for reducing inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines data from the U.S. 2018 and 2019 Survey of Household Economics and Decision making (SHED) to understand the association between student loan debt and emergency-saving decisions, including the moderating role of financial knowledge. Controlling self-selection bias through a propensity score and coarsened exact matching approach, the findings reveal that individuals with student loan debt are less likely to save for financial emergencies. The findings also show that financial knowledge is positively associated with a higher likelihood of having emergency savings. Furthermore, the results from the moderating analysis indicate a statistically significant interaction effect. Based on the empirical results and the corresponding interaction plots, the findings suggest that targeted financial education may lead to improved financial outcomes for student loan borrowers, rather than assuming that such education occurred prior to a loan application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relative concerns influence many economic choices, including household consumption decisions. In this study, we test the conspicuous consumption hypothesis. In particular, we test whether non-rich households are affected by the consumption of rich households and whether they increase their consumption of visible items to signal high status. This is one of the few studies to investigate status signaling in a developing country setting for different consumption categories. We use nationally representative data from the Turkish Household Budget Survey for the years 2003–2012. The conspicuous consumption hypothesis is validated for highly visible nondurable consumption items that possess signaling values. By contrast, we find no evidence of a similar effect on the consumption of non-visible items by the non-rich. We interpret our findings based on the economic experience of the country during the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Newcomb-Benford law states that the frequency of different leading significant digits in many datasets typically follows a specific distribution. Deviations from this law are often a sign of data manipulation. There has been no established method to test whether the non-reliability of observations depends on some potential explanatory variables. A novel method to address this issue is presented. If a leading significant digit has a higher observed frequency than implied by Benford's distribution, such observations are particularly likely to be non-reliable. Dividing the frequency in Benford's distribution by the observed frequency of the same leading significant digit yields an ordinal explained variable. The method is applied to bank deposit data collected in interviews. Many interviewees have provided rounded data, which may be a problem. Answers seem unreliable if the respondent belongs to the age group 51–65, has only primary education, does not live alone, and lives in a city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the head of household's risk tolerance and household debt in China for a sample drawn from the China Household Finance Survey, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. The effect of risk tolerance on both the decision to hold and the amount of total household debt, housing debt and non‐housing debt held is analyzed. The key findings indicate that risk tolerance is positively associated with household debt and non‐housing debt. Differences are found in the effect of risk tolerance on household debt across rural and urban households. For example, there exists a positive relationship between risk tolerance and the probability of holding housing debt for rural households while such a relationship is not found for urban households. In addition, the effect of risk tolerance on household debt is larger for rural households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational asset allocation is central to household wealth accumulation. This paper employs data derived from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey to methodically examine the influence of property tax expectations on the asset allocation decisions of households. This study finds that the expectation of property tax positively influences both the probability of holding risky financial assets and their proportion of household assets. The percentage of housing assets constitutes a substantial negative moderating factor affecting the relationship between property tax expectation and household investments in risky financial assets. The positive effect of property tax expectations is more significant in eastern China. A definite expectation of property tax causes a precautionary saving effect among households. This study highlights that forming reasonable expectations about property taxes can help households adjust their investment portfolios in advance, diversify their asset allocation, and mitigate the impact of changes in property tax policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analysed households' use of formal and informal finance, non-finance livelihood diversification and the social safety net measures in coping with droughts and floods. It employed a cross-sectional survey of 1370 households across 27 counties in Kenya that are prone to droughts and floods. Bivariate probit regressions reveal that households employ multiple coping measures related to finance, the social safety net and non-finance choices. The use of coping measures vary by household income, household dependency ratio, geographic and agro-climatic contexts, as well as the household head's age and educational attainment. Further, the findings reveal that the use of the social safety net and non-finance coping mechanisms demonstrate complementarities in coping with droughts, suggesting that opportunities to benefit from the social safety net do not dampen livelihood diversification initiatives by the households. Additionally, households in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) depend to a large extent on the social safety net and non-finance livelihood diversification coping mechanisms, signalling the need to explore ways that encourage private sector development in promoting market-oriented coping strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of bike-sharing systems represents a novel strategy aimed at enhancing urban mobility by offering shared bicycle services to improve accessibility and user convenience. Nevertheless, there has been a limited exploration into the user demographics of bike-sharing programs on a national scale. This study investigates the socio-demographic characteristics of bike-sharing system users, leveraging the 2017 National Household Travel Survey and negative binomial regression models. It finds that bike-sharing usage is more common among users than non-users, with African American and Hispanic individuals using the system more than other racial groups. Furthermore, low-income individuals (

Objective: Although the improper disposal of unused and expired medications represents a global environmental concern, its significance is often underestimated. This research delves into the practices and factors related to the management of unused and expired medications. Methods: Data was collected through a comprehensive survey of Thai households, with 400 structured questionnaires. Multiple regression was then employed to analyze the data. Results: Findings show an intriguing paradox. The participants in the survey demonstrated commendable knowledge regarding the appropriate management of unused or expired medications. Yet, this knowledge was not sufficiently put into practice. This study identifies the factors that have a positive influence on proper medication disposal practices, such as age, level of education, attitude, and perception. Surveyed participants exhibited a tendency to retain unused medications and discard expired ones with household waste. Most of them showed a low degree of medication management, pointing to the need for targeted interventions. Conclusion: This research provides tangible benefits for policymakers, healthcare practitioners, and researchers addressing waste management paradigms. In terms of policy, the study highlights the need for comprehensive interventions, including medication take-back systems, infrastructure development, and educational initiatives. Policymakers are urged to bridge the gap between knowledge and behavior by promoting access to collection points for proper medication disposal to avoid perpetuating the cycle of suboptimal medication management. This research informs strategies to encourage responsible medication management practices globally, addressing the adverse environmental and health impacts associated with the improper accumulation of medications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safe drinking water access is a human right, but data on safely managed drinking water services (SMDWS) is lacking for more than half of the global population. We estimate SMDWS use in 135 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) at subnational levels with a geospatial modeling approach, combining existing household survey data with available global geospatial datasets. We estimate that only one in three people used SMDWS in LMICs in 2020 and identified fecal contamination as the primary limiting factor affecting almost half of the population of LMICs. Our results are relevant for raising awareness about the challenges and limitations of current global monitoring approaches and demonstrating how globally available geospatial data can be leveraged to fill data gaps and identify priority areas in LMICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is currently no single, easy-to-use, reliable indicator to assess whether a face has been washed with soap in the context of trachoma elimination. This study aimed to compare survey report, script-based pictorial recall and facial cleanliness indicators as alternatives to structured observation for measuring face washing behaviour. This method validation study was nested in the Stronger-SAFE trial, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Structured observation was conducted in randomly selected households for three hours from dawn. The primary caregiver in each household participated in a survey to capture (self)-reported behaviour and/or script-based pictorial recall, a routine-based diary activity to covertly capture information on face washing behaviour of themself and any children aged 1–12. Children 4–12 years old directly participated in the survey and pictorial recall in a subset of households. The facial cleanliness of children aged 1–12 was assessed qualitatively and using the quantitative Personal Hygiene Assessment Tool (qPHAT). Prevalence estimates, sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were computed for each behavioural indicator with observation data as the gold standard. The appropriateness of script-based pictorial recall was assessed using baseline and 3-month follow-up data. Baseline data were collected from 204 households in 68 clusters. Survey estimates of face washing and face washing with soap among caregivers and children were 32% to 60% and 5% to 31% higher than observed behaviour, respectively. Face washing prevalence estimates from pictorial recall were lower than survey estimates and comparable with observations for some face washing with soap indicators (0.3% to 13% higher than observations). Specificity of pictorial recall indicators was high (85% to 99%), but the sensitivity was low (0% to 67%), resulting in a low positive predictive value for all indicators. Both qualitative facial cleanliness indicators and qPHAT scores were poorly correlated with observed face washing earlier that morning. Pictorial recall overestimated face washing with soap among both caregivers and children following intervention delivery but not at baseline. Survey (self)-reported data on face washing is highly inaccurate. Script-based pictorial recall does not correctly classify those who wash their face with soap, and is subject to differential bias following intervention exposure, and facial cleanliness is a poor indicator of recent face washing in settings where faces become rapidly dirty again after washing. Alternatives to structured observation cannot be recommended to monitor the effectiveness of face washing interventions in community settings. Trial Registration ISRCTN registry ISRCTN40760473, https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN40760473. Author summary: This study aimed to identify easy-to-use indicators for face washing behaviour to improve the evaluation of behaviour change interventions in the context of trachoma elimination. The study compared reported behaviour, script-based pictorial recall (a routine-based diary activity to covertly capture information on face washing behaviour) and facial cleanliness indicators with direct observation of face washing. Facial cleanliness assessment and qPHAT scores were poorly correlated with observed behaviour. Caution should be applied before using facial cleanliness metrics as a proxy for face washing. Survey report produced much higher estimates of face washing and face washing with soap than were observed. Pictorial recall overestimated face washing with soap in the intervention arm following intervention exposure, suggesting the metric reflects knowledge rather than behaviour. None of the tested alternatives to structured observation can be recommended to monitor the effectiveness of face washing interventions in community settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPurposeMaterials and MethodsResultsConclusion\nIMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONWe investigated the relationship between disability and food security in South Africa using data from the General Household Survey (GHS).Regression models were utilised with GHS data (2014–2018) to gauge the likelihood of food insecurity (the dependent variable) among individuals with disabilities. Socioeconomic and demographic traits of the 2018 GHS sample were analysed. All estimates were weighted and represented nationally at the individual level.In this study population (32 187) of food insecure people, 9.64% are disabled. Food insecurity impacts more Black people with disabilities (91%) versus those without disabilities (90%), and disabled women (65%) versus nondisabled women (58%). Most reside in KwaZulu-Natal. Those with disability grants lower food insecurity odds, while child support grant recipients face higher odds. Household size and education are significant predictors, while marital status and gender are not.This study data justifies the need for disability-inclusive food security programmes in South Africa, especially amid crises like COVID-19. Significantly, there is a nil data finding about people with eating/swallowing disabilities whose needs intersect with food security. This emphasises the need for inclusive data collection that operates within a food sovereignty framework to increase the visibility of people with disabilities.South African national surveys and censuses should include data on people with disabilities, particularly those with eating and swallowing disabilities.Updated metrics, such as the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), if used, will facilitate easier cross-country comparisons and helps monitor progress towards achieving zero hungerThe study underscores the necessity for disability-inclusive food security programmes in South Africa, and the importance of a food sovereignty framework to enhance visibility.South African national surveys and censuses should include data on people with disabilities, particularly those with eating and swallowing disabilities.Updated metrics, such as the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), if used, will facilitate easier cross-country comparisons and helps monitor progress towards achieving zero hungerThe study underscores the necessity for disability-inclusive food security programmes in South Africa, and the importance of a food sovereignty framework to enhance visibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burn injuries pose a significant public health challenge, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In Bangladesh, burn injuries are prevalent and often result in severe disability or death. However, knowledge regarding the causes of burn injuries, acute burn management, and barriers to seeking burn care in the riverine areas of northern Bangladesh is limited. We conducted a questionnaire-based study in eight subunits and five selected districts in northern Bangladesh to determine the prevalence, causes, and management of burn injuries in these areas. A total of 210 individuals from different households were interviewed, which represented a population of 1020 persons. Among the respondents, 55% reported that at least one member of their household suffered from a burn injury in the past. The most common causes of burn injuries were open fire (41%) and hot fluids (30%). More than 40% of burns were not rinsed with water directly after sustaining the injury. Additionally, almost 30% of respondents did not seek medical care immediately after the injury, with financial constraints being the most commonly cited reason. We found a low rate of adequate cooling and seeking medical care. The need for basic knowledge on prevention and treatment of burn injuries and improved access to affordable health care services in the region is high. • There is a high burn injury prevalence in Bangladesh, leading to severe disability and fatalities. • Open fire and scalds were the most common causes of burn injuries. • A specific household survey in the rural north of Bangladesh was conducted. • There is a concerning lack of immediate water rinsing for almost half of burn injuries. • There is an urgent need for burn injury prevention in northern Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spurred by the need for increased adequacy and international comparability, absolute poverty measures are gaining in policy relevance around the world. This paper proposes a simple and feasible method of calculating absolute poverty thresholds on the basis of households' minimum food needs in advanced economies. It makes three important contributions. First, it demonstrates that conventional statistical methods used in the developing world deliver either unrealistically low or improbably high poverty estimates in rich countries where household spending on food is modest in relative terms. Second, it proposes a new simulation-based inverse method that focuses on the non-food Engel curve and uses predetermined minimum food bundles not as inputs but as targeted reference points in order to calculate adequate poverty thresholds. Finally, an empirical application of the new method using household budget survey data from Italy shows that resulting poverty estimates are comparable to the official figures of the Italian Statistical Office in terms of both the poverty rate and the poverty profiles. Requiring few and easily procurable resources, the proposed algorithm is well suited to produce robust, consistent and internationally comparable absolute poverty estimates in a large number of developed countries and emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do citizens hold local politicians accountable? I argue that citizens, especially through neighborhood associations, can use bloc voting as a bottom-up, grassroots strategy to pressure politicians for public services. Politicians monitor polling station voting, and communities switch allegiance if politicians do not deliver. I measure the perceived and actual relationships between community characteristics, bloc voting, and water access—an essential resource prone to political manipulation. I analyze an original household survey and conjoint experiment merged with electoral data in rural Brazil, and qualitative interviews illustrate theoretical mechanisms. Bloc voting is more likely in communities with high trust and participation, and bloc voting improves water access for association members. However, this strategy is only worthwhile for communities that can demonstrate their vote at their polling station. In contrast to top-down explanations of bloc voting, I highlight the interaction of collective action and electoral institutions for accountability and public service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to understand how attitudinal factors influence individuals' choices for further developing carsharing. To address the gap, a household survey was carried out to obtain the individual's attitudes toward carsharing. The Transtheoretical Model is used to divide the adoption process of carsharing into five stages, including precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Two Integrated Choice and Latent Variable Models with or without the attitudinal features are evaluated for the effects of latent attitudes on the above five stages. Additionally, the attitudinal factors at each stage are analyzed and compared, and the effects of the flexible and hard measures on the adoption process are discussed. The results indicate that the proposed attitudinal factors well reflect individuals' adoption stage of carsharing and show different effects on the five adoption stages. The policy implications for facilitating carsharing require coordinating flexible and hard measures in different cognitive stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Using the data from the China's Digital Inclusive Finance Index and the China Household Finance Survey, this paper analyzes the relation between digital finance and happiness of residents. We find that digital finance can significantly increase the probability of happiness and the degree of happiness. We also find that digital finance can significantly increase the probability of being very happy, as well as making residents living in town areas and non-risk appetites happier. We expand the evidence for the inclusive role of digital finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because most human activities take place inside, indoor air quality is essential to human health. Numerous factors contribute to Kosovo's air pollution, including traffic, industrial emissions, aging thermal power plants, home heating, and other hazardous pollutants. The National Institute of Public Health and the WHO conducted a representative household survey to identify the most exposed and susceptible households, targeting two thousand households. Data from this survey were analyzed regarding the relationship between residential air quality predictors and health symptoms in Kosovo inhabitants. Effects from cooking fuel used on headaches, dizziness, and fatigue were somewhat stronger in females and type of heating seemed a little bit more effective in winter. The latter was also true for respiratory problems and heart disease, lending some credence to the causality of the findings. Thus, cooking devices and energy sources for both heating and cooking seem to have an effect on the health of Kosovars. Although the effect estimates were, in general, moderate with adjusted odds ratios in the magnitude of 2 to 3, they only explained a small part of the variation, with pseudo-R² often only reaching less than 10% and rarely more than 20%. In order to improve indoor air quality, regular monitoring and supervision systems should be established across the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In low- and middle-income countries, household surveys are the most reliable data source to examine health and demographic indicators at the subnational level, an exercise in small area estimation. Model-based unit-level models are favoured for producing the subnational estimates at fine scale, such as the admin-2 level. Typically, the surveys employ stratified 2-stage cluster sampling with strata consisting of an urban/rural designation crossed with administrative regions. To avoid bias and increase predictive precision, the stratification should be acknowledged in the analysis. To move from the cluster to the area requires an aggregation step in which the prevalence surface is averaged with respect to population density. This requires estimating a partition of the study area into its urban and rural components, and to do this we experiment with a variety of classification algorithms, including logistic regression, Bayesian additive regression trees, and gradient boosted trees. Pixel-level covariate surfaces are used to improve prediction. We estimate spatial HIV prevalence in women of age 15–49 in Malawi using the stratification/aggregation method we propose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization has resulted in increasing the pace of informality, specifically in developing countries like India. Informality is taking place at locations that are exposed to various hazards, and therefore, resilience building of both informal and formal settlements is needed to achieve sustainable development. Resilience assessment is key in defining appropriate area-specific resilience measures. Given that, this research assesses the resilience of formal and informal settlements of Surat city in India and presents implications for sustainable development. To assess resilience, an indicator-based approach was taken, using a household survey to collect the data. Analysis suggests that the resilience of formal and informal settlements is significantly different. Key differences were found in physical and institutional resilience, where informal settlements were found to be significantly less resilient than formal settlements. Several measures, such as gender-sensitive education and livelihood programs, as well as mobile water and sanitation, have positive implications for sustainable development. Overall, the study can guide disaster managers and policy makers to adopt a strategic and more targeted approach to strengthen resilience and achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As it becomes increasingly clear how central digital transformation is to development, the need for clarifying concepts and for coming up with standardized and accurate measures for digital inclusion becomes more urgent. Focusing on the internet as a foundational technology, this paper sets out a framework of core components of digital inclusion—including access/use, quality of access/use, affordability, and digital skills. The paper then surveys the ways these components are currently measured in household and firm surveys and by international organizations. Building on simple descriptive analysis of data from a wide range of sources, the paper highlights some of the often-overlooked weaknesses of current measures, and suggests possible improvements. The paper argues that (a) metrics for certain core components of digital inclusion—including quality of access/use and digital skills—are relatively underdeveloped, (b) some questions on technology use and skills may need to be adapted to developing country settings, (c) more attention should be paid to within-country inequalities in statistics reported by international organizations, (d) currently available digital inclusion indices are not very useful, and (e) there is much potential in using big data methods to measure digital inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to study empirically the existence of precautionary saving in Spain at the end of the Great Recession using the micro data provided by the Spanish Survey of Household Finances. Using the panel component of these data, I construct a measure of income uncertainty for each household from the observed household real income and use it to test for the strength of precautionary saving. I find that an increase of 1% in the standard deviation of income reduces household consumption by 8.8% when using the logarithm of the household consumption as dependent variable; however, when using the ratio between consumption and average income as dependent variable, given the average normal income and consumption in the sample, consumption will decrease by 8.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]