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Maternal and child migration in post-apartheid South Africa: evidence from the NIDS panel study
No full textChildren are affected by adult migration, whether or not they themselves move. Yet little attention
has been paid to patterns of child mobility and changing household contexts in South Africa, and the
ways in which these relate to patterns of adult migration. Internal migration in South Africa is historically associated with the social engineering and enforced fragmentation of families that took place under apartheid. In particular, controls on population movement, together with limited residential rights in cities and other places of economic activity, restricted the ability of African families to migrate and live together, while dual housing arrangements allowed for circular movement between urban and rural homes. The term “oscillating migration” was used to describe mobility between urban and rural areas. Rather than being viewed as physically bounded and static units, households came to be viewed as straddling these nodes, both of which could include resident and non‐resident members. Contrary to expectations, there was no substantial increase in permanent urban migration when the apartheid‐era controls on population movement were removed (Posel 2006). Instead, temporary labour migration has remained an important livelihood strategy for many households, and extended and dual household forms have persisted.Katharine Hall: Senior Researcher, Children's Institute, University of Cape Town. [email protected]
Acknowledgements:
Funding for this research from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is
gratefully acknowledged
Determinants of regular smoking onset in South Africa using duration analysis
No full textObjectives South Africa has achieved significant success with its tobacco control policy. Between 1994 and 2012, the real price of cigarettes increased by 229%, while regular smoking prevalence decreased from about 31% to 18.2%.
Methods Cigarette prices and socioeconomic variables are used to examine the determinants of regular smoking onset. We apply duration analysis techniques to the National Income Dynamics Study, a nationally representative survey of South Africa.
Results We find that an increase in cigarette prices significantly reduces regular smoking initiation among males, but not among females. Regular smoking among parents is positively correlated with smoking initiation among children. Children with more educated parents are less likely to initiate regular smoking than those with less educated parents. Africans initiate later and at lower rates than other race groups.
Conclusions As the tobacco epidemic is shifting towards low-income and middle-income countries, there is an increasing urgency to perform studies in these countries to influence policy. Higher cigarette excise taxes, which lead to higher retail prices, reduce smoking prevalence by encouraging smokers to quit and by discouraging young people from starting smoking
Subjective Well-Being Adult South Africans’ Life Satisfaction (2008 - 2014)
No full textThis discussion paper examines subjective well‐being using the National Income Dynamics Study. The survey is an individual level panel survey, with data collected biannually, with 4 waves available, from 2008‐2015. The survey is particularly rich, and in addition to economic measures of well‐being, it includes individual level data on subjective well‐being. Subjective well‐being is measured by asking respondents to rate their level of life satisfaction, at the point of being interviewed, and to think about how their current level of life satisfaction relates to their level of satisfaction historically.
Kahneman and Kreuger (2005) report that “while various measures of well‐being are useful for some
purposes, it is important to recognize that subjective well‐being measures features of individuals’
perceptions of their experiences, not their utility as economists typically conceive of it. Those perceptions are a more accurate gauge of actual feelings if they are reported closer to the time of, and in direct reference to, the actual experience.”
Therefore, studying subjective well‐being is worth pursuing, as actual feelings are a relevant gauge of an individual’s life satisfaction. These perceptions may be distorted – but are arguably the best measure of how an individual’s experience of the world at a given point in time is translated into well‐being.Funding for this research from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is gratefully
acknowledged
In-Work Poverty in South Africa: The Impact of Income Sharing in the Presence of High Unemployment
No full textSouth Africa is distinguished from other countries by its history of Apartheid, in which race-based policies resulted in vastly inferior education and labour market opportunities for African, Coloured and Asian/Indian individuals. This resulted in exceptionally high levels of poverty and inequality constructed along racial lines at the time of the transition to democracy in 1994, motivating the newly elected democratic government to make poverty alleviation a key focus of economic policy. The new political regime faced the major challenge of reforming government institutions which had historically been systematic in underproviding resources to the majority of the population. While the economic, political and social systems have undergone considerable change in the past two decades, the structural effects of colonialism and Apartheid are not easily undone. South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world, resulting in persistently high levels of poverty in what is today an upper-middle income country. Using the lower bound cost of basic needs poverty line developed by Hoogeveen and Ozler (2006), the poverty headcount ratio was relatively unchanged between 1993 and 2010, falling from 56% to 54% over the period (Leibbrandt et al., 2010).This is a draft chapter/article that has been accepted for publication by Edward Elgar Publishing in the forthcoming book Handbook of Research on In-Work Poverty, edited by Ive Marx and Henning Lohmann due to be published in 2017
Youth friendly clinics make inroads in reducing unintended teen births in South Africa
No full textDespite widespread, freely available contraception and progressive reproductive health laws, most teen mothers report their last pregnancy as unintended or unplanned. This begs the question: Why are many sexually active teens failing to use contraceptives when they are widely available for free?
In response, loveLife rolled out the National Adolescent Friendly Clinic Initiative (NAFCI) starting in the early 2000s. NAFCI aimed to remove barriers that youth faces in accessing reproductive health services, and to provide youth-focused sexual health education.
We find that the program increased contraception usage and decreased sexually transmitted diseases and early teen births. The program effectively encouraged women to delay childbearing by over a year, with a significant reduction in births to mothers under 17. Children born to mothers with NAFCI access were also in better health and more connected to the health system.
In light of these positive findings, and the negative effects that teen childbearing has on both the mother and child, we recommend that youth-friendly initiatives be implemented in all public health facilities.We acknowledge the support provided by Hewlett/PRB Global Teams of Research Excellence in Population, Reproductive Health, and Economic Development and Hewlett Foundation/Institute of International Education Dissertation Fellowship in Population, Reproductive Health and Economic Development
Measuring multidimensional poverty among youth in South Africa at the sub-national level
No full textResearch evidence points to the multiple forms of deprivation faced by the current generation of young people in South Africa. Little is known about the way in which these various deprivations interrelate - and the extent to which they vary from one local area to another. This paper suggests the adoption of a Multidimensional Poverty Index for Youth as a useful way to integrate a number of dimensions of deprivation into an aggregate measure that can then be used to flag variations in aggregate deprivation across local areas of South Africa. The measure presented draws on the internationally recognized Alkire Foster methodology. However, it is adapted to include dimensions, indicators and deprivation cut-offs selected specifically to reflect the unique experiences of this youth cohort in the context of post-apartheid South Africa. Using National Census 2011 data, the Youth Multidimensional Poverty Index (Youth MPI) quantifies the nature and extent of multidimensional poverty among youth aged 15-24 and allows for a comparison of its spatial distribution across relatively small geographical regions. The results indicate a highly unequal spatial distribution of youth multidimensional poverty between local municipalities, with the highest levels of youth poverty concentrated in the former homeland areas. Analysis of the separate indicators that make up the Youth MPI indicate that 72% of multidimensionally poor youth are deprived in educational attainment. Further investigation suggests that deprivation in education and economic opportunities contribute the highest shares to the overall Youth MPI score. The results illustrate the potential usefulness of the Youth MPI as a tool for informing and targeting policies and interventions directed at youth
Start-Up Capital and Women’s Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Swaziland
No full textThis paper examines gender differences in entrepreneurial performance and their links with start-up capital utilizing a search model and empirical analysis of survey of entrepreneurs from Swaziland. The results show that entrepreneurs of both genders with higher start-up capital record better sales performance than those with smaller amounts of capital. For women entrepreneurs, formal finance sources of start-up capital are also associated with higher sales. However, as in other developing countries, women entrepreneurs in Swaziland have smaller start-up capital and are less likely to fund it from formal sources than men. Among women entrepreneurs, those with college education and confident in their skills tend to start their firms with higher amounts of capital. Professional support also matters, as women with such support are more likely to fund their start-up capital from the formal financial sector.This is a substantively expanded and modified version of the paper presented at a seminar at the African Development Bank (April 2015) and at the 2016 Royal Economic Society Conference (March) and published in the Journal of Business Venturing Insights. We thank Dimo Dimov for insightful comments that improved the paper
The Post Matriculation Enrolment Decision: Do Public Colleges Provide Students with a Viable Alternative? Evidence from the First Four Waves of the National Income Dynamics Study
No full textThis paper uses National Income Dynamic Survey (NIDS) data from 2008‐2015, together with
administrative data on South African schools and post‐secondary institutions, to estimate the impact
of home background, school quality and scholastic ability during a learner’s final years of schooling on
enrolment in post‐secondary education. We analyse enrolment patterns for each of three institution
types separately, namely public universities, public Technical and Vocational Education and Training
(TVET) colleges, and private colleges. In light of government’s current policy to expand TVET colleges over the next two decades, we focus specifically on this institutional category. In particular, we investigate the role of financial constraints in the enrolment decision, in order to assess the viability of the plan to expand post‐secondary education via the TVET sector. Through a series of multinomial logit regressions, we find that household income during matric year is highly significant in determining enrolment in all types of post‐secondary institutions, including TVETs. Individual ability (as measured by numeracy test scores) is also important in explaining enrolment in both universities and TVETs, even after controlling for socio‐economic background and school quality variables. These findings suggest that increasing the number of seats available at TVET colleges, without expanding funding opportunities and assessing the level of course content, is unlikely to result in the target of 2.5 million learners in TVET by 2030 being met.Nicola Branson: Senior Research Officer, SALDRU, UCT. Email: [email protected]
Amy Kahn: Survey Consultant and Researcher, SALDRU, UCT. Email: [email protected]
Acknowledgements:
Funding for this research from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is gratefully
acknowledged
Undermining Government Tax Policies: Common strategies employed by the tobacco industry in response to tobacco tax increases
No full textIntroduction: Effective tobacco tax increases reduce tobacco consumption, threatening the profitability of the tobacco industry. In response, the tobacco industry employs strategies to negate or minimize the full effects of tobacco tax increases. Knowledge of these strategies can assist governments in setting effective policies to collect the full amount of tax revenue and to curb tobacco use.
Methods: Country level data on excise tax rates and revenue, retail prices, volume of cigarette removals and sales were obtained from governments and statistical offices, non-governmental organizations and academic departments.
Results: Seven common strategies are identified: stockpiling, changing product attributes or production processes, lowering prices, over-shifting prices, under-shifting prices, timing of price increases, and engaging in price discrimination and/or offering promotions. Each strategy is described in terms of the motivation for their employment, the consequences for tobacco use and tax revenue, and measures to counter them. County case studies illustrate the successful execution of the strategies and possible government responses.
Conclusion: The tobacco industry, left unchecked, employs strategies that reduce the impact of tobacco tax increases on its profit, undermining tobacco control efforts and government revenue. Many of the Tobacco industry’s responses to tobacco tax increases are predictable, since they are being employed systematically across countries. Governments can and should adopt appropriate measures to eliminate or reduce tobacco industry manipulation. This requires systematic data collection in order to monitor tobacco industry behavior
Maternal and child migration in post-apartheid South Africa: evidence from the NIDS panel study
No full textChildren are affected by adult migration, whether or not they themselves move. Yet little attention
has been paid to patterns of child mobility and changing household contexts in South Africa, and the
ways in which these relate to patterns of adult migration. Internal migration in South Africa is historically associated with the social engineering and enforced fragmentation of families that took place under apartheid. In particular, controls on population movement, together with limited residential rights in cities and other places of economic activity, restricted the ability of African families to migrate and live together, while dual housing arrangements allowed for circular movement between urban and rural homes. The term “oscillating migration” was used to describe mobility between urban and rural areas. Rather than being viewed as physically bounded and static units, households came to be viewed as straddling these nodes, both of which could include resident and non‐resident members. Contrary to expectations, there was no substantial increase in permanent urban migration when the apartheid‐era controls on population movement were removed (Posel 2006). Instead, temporary labour migration has remained an important livelihood strategy for many households, and extended and dual household forms have persisted.Katharine Hall: Senior Researcher, Children's Institute, University of Cape Town. [email protected]
Acknowledgements:
Funding for this research from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is
gratefully acknowledged