With new nationwide longitudinal survey data now available from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we study the level, distribution, and composition of household wealth in contemporary China. We find that the wealth Gini coefficient of China was 0.73 in 2012. The richest 1 percent owned more than one-third of the total national household wealth, while the poorest 25 percent owned less than ...

The omission of relevant independent variables in the estimation of agricultural production functions gives rise to mis-specification and biased estimators. Using disaggregated household survey data, this study finds that official positions and education of household heads are important determinant of grain output in rural China and should be incorporated into the production functions. The impa...

By focusing on human capital investment, the Mexican Oportunidades program will influence the economic choices of the rural poor. To understand how beneficiaries may alter their behaviour as a result of this intervention, this paper uses administrative data to analyze the economic activities of the Mexican rural poor. Results indicate that investments in education are likely to shift recipients...

Poor water quality and sanitation are leading causes of mortality and disease in developing countries. However, interventions providing toilets in rural areas have not substantially improved health, likely because of incomplete coverage and low usage. This paper estimates the impact of an integrated water and sanitation improvement program in rural India that provided household-level water conn...

Rural areas of Cambodia have no safe waste management strategies for household latrine waste. Household application of lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) would enable households to treat waste easily on-site and significantly reduce the risk of latrine sludge causing negative impacts on human health and the environment, whilst transforming latrines into incubators of a valuable agricultural addi...

OBJECTIVE To identify and evaluate inequities in access to drinking water services as reflected in household per capita expenditure on water, and to determine what proportion of household expenditures is spent on water in 11 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. METHODS Using data from multi-purpose household surveys (such as the Living Standards Measurement Survey Study) conducted in...

We present unitary and sharing rule models of the household that explicitly account for three parental concerns that may lead to gender bias in the allocation of resources to children—equity, efficiency, and preferences. Deaton’s test of the effect of household composition on adult good expenditures is employed using data on fathers’ and mothers’ nutrient intake from the China Health and Nutrit...

BACKGROUND One common challenge to social systems is achieving equity in financial contributions and preventing financial loss. Because of the large and unpredictable nature of some costs, achieving this goal in the health system presents important and unique problems. The present study investigated the Household Financial Contributions (HFCs) to the health system. METHODS The study investiga...

UK Households’ Carbon Footprint: A Comparison of the Association between Household Characteristics and Emissions from Home Energy, Transport and Other Goods and Services Does the association between household characteristics and household CO2 emissions differ for different areas such as home energy, transport, indirect and total emissions in the UK? Specific types of households might be more li...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of usage, unsafe practices and risk perception regarding household pesticides in a rural community of Tamil Nadu, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a cross-sectional survey we used a pre-tested questionnaire and trained interviewers to collect information on household pesticide use for the past 6 months from any adult member of randomly selected households. ...