Essays in Technology Adoption and Child Development Using Semiparametric Econometrics

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Diiro, Gracious M.
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2013
Subjects:	Agricultural Economics Economics Health Nutrition
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1374222488

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13742224882021-08-03T06:18:40Z Essays in Technology Adoption and Child Development Using Semiparametric Econometrics Diiro, Gracious M. Agricultural Economics Economics Health Nutrition This dissertation comprises three chapters focusing on application of semiparametric and structural econometrics to understanding child development, and technology adoption decisions in India and Uganda. The first chapter examines the heterogeneous effects of maternal labor market participation on the nutritional status of children under five in Rural India. Child malnutrition remains a serious public health concern in developing countries and is puzzlingly high in India, despite her recent achievements in economic progress. A number of studies have analyzed the determinants of child malnutrition, proposing various interventions to reduce its prevalence. These studies have, however, paid little attention to the role of female labor market participation in determining undernutrition in developing countries. There is evidence of growing number of women in the labor market. This essay uses a nationally representative dataset from India to investigate the causal effects of maternal participation in labor markets on child nutrition The essay differs from previous research in two main aspects: First, it allows for heterogeneity in effects of maternal work on child nutritional status. Secondly, it is the first study to estimate the causal effect of maternal work on child nutrition in India. The results show that maternal labor market participation in India leads to improved nutritional status among children at the bottom of the distribution of height-for-age. However, the effect is not significant for an average child, suggesting that the mean estimate understates the effect of maternal work. The quantile estimates provide evidence of large heterogeneity in the effect of mother's work on child nutrition. In particular, the results suggest that it is the children in the lower tail of the height-for-age distribution who experience more sizable `nutritional premiums' due to maternal labor market participation; the effects are small for the children in the rest of the distribution. The second chapter explores empirically if rural households in Uganda leverage their nonfarm earnings to overcome credit constraints and invest in high-yielding maize seed varieties. Unlike previous studies in this realm, this essay does not assume exogeneity of farm and nonfarm earnings, and uses a recently developed semiparametric estimator of binary outcomes that also accommodates endogenous regressors straightforwardly to estimate the effect of nonfarm income on technology adoption decisions. The results show that nonfarm income has a positive and significant effect on adoption of improved maize seed. Thus, increased recourse to high yielding crop seeds in Uganda can be enhanced by promoting mechanisms that encourage income diversification in the rural areas. The third chapter is applies a new semiparametric estimator for binary-choice single-index models, which uses parametric information in the form of a known link function and nonparametrically corrects it. The proposed estimator achieves significant bias reduction and efficiency gains relative to competing estimators. Empirical application shows that fertilizer adoption in Uganda is significantly spurred by the number of agricultural extension visits, male head of household and average education level of the household, and farm and non-farm revenue. 2013-10-02 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1374222488 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1374222488 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Agricultural Economics Economics Health Nutrition
spellingShingle	Agricultural Economics Economics Health Nutrition Diiro, Gracious M. Essays in Technology Adoption and Child Development Using Semiparametric Econometrics
author	Diiro, Gracious M.
author_facet	Diiro, Gracious M.
author_sort	Diiro, Gracious M.
title	Essays in Technology Adoption and Child Development Using Semiparametric Econometrics
title_short	Essays in Technology Adoption and Child Development Using Semiparametric Econometrics
title_full	Essays in Technology Adoption and Child Development Using Semiparametric Econometrics
title_fullStr	Essays in Technology Adoption and Child Development Using Semiparametric Econometrics
title_full_unstemmed	Essays in Technology Adoption and Child Development Using Semiparametric Econometrics
title_sort	essays in technology adoption and child development using semiparametric econometrics
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2013
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1374222488
work_keys_str_mv	AT diirograciousm essaysintechnologyadoptionandchilddevelopmentusingsemiparametriceconometrics
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Essays in Technology Adoption and Child Development Using Semiparametric Econometrics

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