1,720,993 research outputs found
Learning (or Not) in Health-Seeking Behavior: Evidence from Rural Tanzania
No full textThe aim of this paper is to understand the functioning of individuals' health seeking behavior. It studies, theoretically and empirically, whether individuals change health care providers over time, depending on the health outcome (i.e. healed or sick) after consultation with the previous caregiver. Results show that the previous health outcome plays a crucial role in shifting individual preferences to a particular type of medical care. I find that patients, who healed after seeking health care, are more likely to seek care again in the future. Furthermore, conditional on seeking care, individuals are more likely to return to formal (informal) health providers with whom they had experienced a previous history of cures and switch away from formal (informal) caregivers with whom they had a negative outcome. I interpret these results as learning about clinicians’ quality over time. The effects are tested using 4 year panel data from a household survey in Tanzania
Mines, Migration and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa
No full textSwaziland and Lesotho are the countries with the highest HIV prevalence in the world. These countries have in common another distinguishing feature: during the past century they sent massive numbers of migrant workers into South African mines. This paper examines whether mining activities in a bordering country affect HIV infections. A job in the mines implies spending a long period away from the household of origin surrounded by an active sex industry. This creates potential incentives for multiple concurrent partnerships. Using Demographic and Health Surveys, the analysis shows that migrant miners aged 30-44 are 15 percentage points more likely to be HIV positive and having a migrant miner as a partner increases the probability of infection for women by 8 percentage points. The study also shows that miners are less likely to abstain and to use condoms and that female partners of miners are more likely to engage in extra-marital sex. We interpret these results as suggesting that miners’ migration into South Africa has increased the spread of HIV/AIDS in the countries of origin. Consistent with this interpretation, the associations between HIV infection and being a miner or a miner’s wife are not statistically significant in Zimbabwe, characterized by a local mining industry
Homelessness and crime: Do your friends matter?
Full text linkThis paper investigates the influence of friends on crime, using data I collected among
the homeless. To estimate the causal effects of friends and of the share of criminal friends
on crime, I rely on two instruments. The first is the share of rainy days during one's first
year as homeless: rainfall fosters homeless's concentration in sheltered places and increases the
probability of interactions. The second is the share of inmates released during one's first year as
homeless, which a¤ects the supply of criminal friends. I find that one additional friend decreases
the probability of incarceration but criminal friends increases it
Being homeless: evidence from Italy
No full textHomelessness represents the most extreme form of poverty in industrialized countries and a critical consequence of economic crisis. The economic research on homelessness is almost non-existent because of the lack of reliable data. By interviewing homeless people in Milan and with a response rate of 62%, this paper presents and discusses the results of the first representative survey in Europe among the homeless. We find an overwhelming majority of males in the central part of their life. Respondents indicate unemployment and breakdowns in family relationships as the main reasons for their status. Further, almost one third of the sample works, suggesting a possible reintegration of unemployed homeless in the labour market. Unconditional welfare assistance is correlated with labour market inactivity and longer homelessness spells
Gender stereotypes and barriers to women's leadership
No full textThis chapter delves into the subtle pervasiveness of our cultural “scripts” about femininity and masculinity (Albertson Fineman 2010) , extremely difficult to uncover because they are masked in a social belief system, that “automatically” normalizes and reproduces structures of inequality. For this reason, we divided the chapter according to three main research questions, which correspond to three different sections:
1. Where do gender stereotypes come from?
2. What are gender stereotypes?
3. Are gender stereotypes a human rights issue
Interaction, Stereotypes, and Performance: Evidence from South Africa
No full textWe exploit a policy designed to randomly allocate roommates in a large South African university to investigate whether interracial interaction affects stereotypes, attitudes and performance. Using implicit association tests, we find that living with a roommate of a different race reduces White students' negative stereotypes towards Black students and increases interracial friendships. Interaction also affects academic outcomes: Black students improve their GPA, pass more exams and have lower dropout rates. This effect is not driven by roommate's ability. (JEL D91, I23, J15, O12
L'economia invisibile dei senza casa
No full textLa raccolta di dati attendibili è una precondizione per anche solo definire politiche che affrontino il problema dei senza casa. Oltre ad acquisire informazioni sulla scala del fenomeno, è importante ottenere informazioni utili per valutare il grado di attaccamento al mercato del lavoro delle persone che vivono in queste condizioni e il modo con cui reagirebbero ad aiuti nella ricerca di un impiego. Fondamentale poi monitorare gli effetti di politiche di aiuto con metodi sperimentali, quindi scegliendo anche gruppi di controllo con cui comparare gli esiti dei beneficiari di queste politiche
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