The mechanisms that perpetuate over-indebtedness at individual level (or household) are still not well researched. Emerging literature on debt and mental health shows that being highly indebted is stressful and it leads to psychological problems. This paper explores the relationship between psychological well-being and debt in South Africa. We rely on Wave 2 and 4 of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), a nationally representative household panel survey in South Africa. We have two indebtedness measures; Negative Asset Value and Financial Stress which are both constructed from the NIDS dataset. Negative asset value is based on the net worth of the respondent, whereas Financial Stress is based on household expenditure over income. In the sample data, we observe that respondents have higher CES-D scores on average in Wave 4 than in Wave 2. As a result, the number of people who report depression is also higher in this wave. The proportion of the sample that is indebted increases between Wave 2 and 4,with more household reporting financial stress in wave 4. In the empirical analysis, we firstly use cross-sectional data to estimate a probit model between debt and depression, while controlling for socioeconomic variables on the individual and the household they belong to. The results suggest that indebtedness is positively associated with depression. Debt and depression tend to be endogenous since poor mental health can lead to indebtedness.To deal with the endogeneity that exists between debt and depression, we estimate a recursive bivariate probit with the cross-sectional data. We find that the negative asset value is still positively associated with depression, but financial stress is not. Due to the inconsistency of results when using cross-sectional data, we shift to panel data. A fixed effects logit model is estimated to look at the changes in debt and changes in depression. The results show that both debt variables are significant determinants of the onset of depression. Lastly, in the fixed effects logit model, we swap out the debt variables with debt types to look at the changes in debt types and changes in the depression outcome. A personal loan from a bank, a loan from Mashonisa and Hire purchase debt are the significant determinants of changes depression.

No description available.

No description available.

Over the last ten years there has been a renewed interest in providing agricultural insurance in developing countries. However, voluntary demand for unsubsidised insurance products has been low, particularly from the poorest farmers. Chapter One presents a model of rational demand for hedging products, where there is a risk of contractual nonperformance. Demand is characterised and bounded for risk averse and decreasing absolute risk averse decision makers. For constant absolute and relative risk averse utility functions, demand is hump-shaped in the degree of risk aversion when the price is actuarially unfair, first increasing then decreasing, and either decreasing or decreasing-increasing-decreasing in risk aversion when the price is actuarially favourable. The apparently low level of demand for consumer hedging instruments, particularly from the most risk averse, is explained as a rational response to deadweight costs and the risk of contractual nonperformance. A numerical example is presented which suggests that some of the unsubsidised weather derivatives currently being designed for and marketed to poor farmers may in fact be poor products. Chapter Two presents experimental evidence collected from a framed microinsurance lab experiment using poor subjects in rural Ethiopia. In line with the theoretical model of Chapter One, demand for actuarially unfair index insurance is hump-shaped in wealth, first increasing then decreasing. In contrast with recent field experiments where it is not possible to demonstrate that low demand for indexed insurance is `too low', use of a laboratory experiment with an objectively known joint probability distribution allows normative statements to be made about the observed level of demand. The observed level of demand for index insurance in the experiment is higher than the decreasing absolute risk averse upper bound of Chapter One, suggesting that subjects bought `too much' index insurance. Chapter Three presents a vision of insurance design for the poor. Technically optimal arrangements involve insurance providers, such as microinsurers or governments, acting as reinsurer to groups of individuals who have access to cheap information about each other, such as extended families or members of close-knit communities, who in turn offer mutual insurance to each other.

No description available.

Diss. Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2009.

Habilitationsschrift--Cologne. / Bibliography: [243]-267.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 230-231).

Methamphetamine (meth) use results in various costs accruing to the meth user, society, and government. Internal and external costs of the pandemic are widespread, affecting the healthcare and social welfare systems, policing, private security, and the judicial and corrective services system. This study quantifies these costs for the Western Cape; identifying the magnitude of the cost of illness and additional social costs by category and determines which interventions are likely to reduce these overall costs. This study used a combination of a top-down and a bottom-up approach for the costing of various categories. The meth prevalence rate used was derived from the number of primary meth users who sought meth treatment in 2013 as reported to SACENDU. Additional data on expenditure and costs were obtained from government annual reports, personal interviews and data from previous studies.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation uses a systems thinking approach to investigate how current health system frameworks conceive of universal coverage schemes and the conditions which led to their implementation and sustainability.