Wars and Child Health: Evidence from the Eritrean-Ethiopian Conflict

This is the first paper using household survey data from two countries involved in an international war (Eritrea and Ethiopia) to measure the conflict’s impact on children's health in both nations. The identification strategy uses event data to exploit exogenous variation in the conflict's geographic extent and timing and the exposure of different children's birth cohorts to the fighting. The paper uniquely incorporates GPS information on the distance between survey villages and conflict sites to more accurately measure a child’s war exposure. War-exposed children in both countries have lower height-for-age Z-scores, with the children in the war-instigating and losing country (Eritrea) suffering more than the winning nation (Ethiopia). Negative impacts on boys and girls of being born during the conflict are comparable to impacts for children alive at the time of the war. Effects are robust to including region-specific time trends, alternative conflict exposure measures, and an instrumental variables strategy.child health, conflict, economic shocks, Africa

Household Saving Behavior and the Real Interest Rate: An Empirical Study

This paper tests several hypotheses about the responsiveness of household saving to the real interest rate. It tests how the interest responsiveness in a country depends on certain common macroeconomic and demographic variables. These include per-capita income, the income distribution, the pervasiveness of borrowing constraints, the degree of financial depth, and demographic characteristics. The rationale for considering these variables is provided in the context of a theoretical model of household saving behavior, which then leads to the estimation of a structural equation for household saving

AIDS Treatment and Intrahousehold Resource Allocations: Children's Nutrition and Schooling in Kenya

The provision of life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment has emerged as a key component of the global response to HIV/AIDS, but very little is known about the impact of this intervention on the welfare of children in the households of treated persons. We estimate the impact of ARV treatment on children’s schooling and nutrition outcomes using longitudinal household survey data collected in collaboration with a treatment program in western Kenya. We find that children’s weekly hours of school attendance increase by over 20 percent within six months after treatment is initiated for the adult household member. For boys in treatment households, these increases closely follow their reduced market labor supply. Similarly, young children’s short-term nutritional status—as measured by their weight-for-height Z-score—also improves dramatically. We also present evidence that the impact of treatment is considerably larger when compared to the counterfactual scenario of no ARV treatment. The results illustrate how intrahousehold allocations of time and resources are altered in response to significant health improvements. Since the improvements in children’s schooling and nutrition at these critical early ages will affect their socio-economic outcomes and wellbeing in adulthood, the widespread provision of ARV treatment is likely to generate significant long-run welfare benefits.antiretroviral drugs, ARVs, HIV/AIDS, Kenya, children school attendance, children nutrition,

The Economic Impact of AIDS Treatment: Labor Supply in Western Kenya

Using longitudinal survey data collected in collaboration with a treatment program, this paper is the first to estimate the economic impacts of antiretroviral treatment in Africa. The responses in two important outcomes are studied: (1) labor supply of adult AIDS patients receiving treatment; and (2) labor supply of children and adults living in the patients' households. We find that within six months after the initiation of treatment, there is a 20 percent increase in the likelihood of the patient participating in the labor force and a 35 percent increase in weekly hours worked. Since patient health would continue to decline without treatment, these labor supply responses are underestimates of the impact of treatment on the treated. The upper bound of the treatment impact, which is based on plausible assumptions about the counterfactual, is considerably larger and also implies that the wage benefit from treatment is roughly equal to the costs of treatment provision. The responses in the labor supply of patients' household members are heterogeneous. Young boys and women work considerably less after initiation of treatment, while girls and men do not change their labor supply. The effects on child labor are particularly important since they suggest potential schooling impacts from treatment.

Household Saving Behavior and the Real Interest Rate: An Empirical Study

This paper tests several hypotheses about the responsiveness of household saving to the real interest rate. It tests how the interest responsiveness in a country depends on certain common macroeconomic and demographic variables. These include per-capita income, the income distribution, the pervasiveness of borrowing constraints, the degree of financial depth, and demographic characteristics. The rationale for considering these variables is provided in the context of a theoretical model of household saving behavior, which then leads to the estimation of a structural equation for household saving

AIDS Treatment and Intrahousehold Resource Allocations: Children's Nutrition and Schooling in Kenya

The provision of life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment has emerged as a key component of the global response to HIV/AIDS, but very little is known about the impact of this intervention on the welfare of children in the households of treated persons. We estimate the impact of ARV treatment on children’s schooling and nutrition outcomes using longitudinal household survey data collected in collaboration with a treatment program in western Kenya. We find that children’s weekly hours of school attendance increase by over 20 percent within six months after treatment is initiated for the adult household member. For boys in treatment households, these increases closely follow their reduced market labor supply. Similarly, young children’s short-term nutritional status—as measured by their weight-for-height Z-score—also improves dramatically. We argue that these treatment effects will be considerably larger when compared to the counterfactual scenario of no ARV treatment. The results provide evidence on how intrahousehold resource allocation is altered in response to significant health improvements. Since the improvements in children’s schooling and nutrition at these critical early ages will affect their socio-economic outcomes in adulthood, the widespread provision of ARV treatment is likely to generate significant long-run macroeconomic benefits.

A facile designed highly moderate craspedia flowerlike sulphated Bi2O3-fly ash catalyst: Green synthetic strategy for (6H-pyrido[3,2-b]carbazol-4-yl)aniline derivatives in water

AbstractThe air pollutant fly ash was facile designed as a green catalyst and practical to organic synthesis. We have designed sulfated Bi2O3-fly ash catalyst (12wt%) and it was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), confocal Raman, Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission electron microscopy (FE-SEM), elemental color mapping, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques. The sulfated Bi2O3-fly ash was found an excellent catalytic application for the synthesis of (6H-pyrido[3,2-b]carbazol-4-yl)aniline derivatives in water has been described. The synthesized (6H-pyrido[3,2-b]carbazol-4-yl)aniline derivatives were confirmed by spectral techniques Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). The significant catalytic role of Bi–N interaction was readily form adduct, moreover Bi–O bond was favorable for hydrogen abstraction, dehydration and aromatization. Due to the strong potential, the precise reaction time and high yield have been achieved, which is realized from hot filtration test. The sulfated Bi2O3-fly ash catalyst could be reused for five successive run, the resulting in no appreciable change in the catalytic activity. The crystal phase and surface morphology of fifth run catalyst were examined by powder XRD, FE-SEM, EDS and TEM techniques, and the results revealed no changes in catalyst nature. The sulfated Bi2O3-fly ash catalyst has high efficiency, reusability, good catalytic activity, environmentally harmless and notable potential in industrial applications