This dissertation makes use of data from three large and detailed rural household surveys conducted in Haiti to examine elements of economic behavior in poor rural households. We use the earliest survey to formulate a set of hypotheses and use statistical meta-analysis to test them against all three surveys. Results in the areas of household vulnerability, form, migration, and education contribute to theory-refinement in Economic Anthropology.

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<p>This dissertation consists of two essays on household portfolio choice. The first essay is entitled 'Household Portfolio Choice and Retirement'. In this first essay, I empirically examine the portfolio decisions of households as they transition into retirement. I document a novel stylized fact: holding household characteristics constant, singles maintain a relatively constant share of risky assets in their financial portfolios as they transition into retirement. On the other hand, couples decrease their share of risky assets significantly. I analyze this difference in behavior, and show that it is not driven by retirement-related background risks for couples relative to singles. Instead, I show that the heterogeneity within couples can be explained by the within-couple difference in spouses' individual risk aversion levels, and that the results are consistent with a net increase in couples' effective household-level risk aversion after retirement. Further, exploiting heterogeneity in couples' relative retirement dates, I show that husbands' and wives' respective retirement events are associated with very different (opposite-signed) persistent effects on the risky share of couples' portfolios. Moreover, I show that the relative magnitude of these persistent effects is consistent with the importance of each spouse's labor income within the household before retirement. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the outcome of a household bargaining game in which wives demand a smaller share of risky assets than their husbands, with each spouse losing some bargaining power after retiring.</p><p>In the second essay, entitled 'Household Bargaining and Asset Allocation', we empirically examine the effect of intra-household bargaining on household portfolio choice over the life cycle. We find that fluctuations in the distribution of intra-household bargaining power are associated with significant asset allocation shifts between risky and comparatively safer asset classes in households' portfolios. Our results are robust to alternative risky asset definitions, including investments in stocks, real estate, and holdings in private business, as well as to alternative control specifications. We find that the implied effect of intra-household bargaining is economically large in magnitude, with changes in bargaining power driving within-household variation in risky asset shares comparable to changes in labor income and wealth over the life cycle.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis draws upon modern consumption theory to provide an interpretive research framework for examining material culture and consumer behaviour in the Roman world. This approach is applied to data from twelve Pompeian households to identify patterns of consumption, materiality, and motivations for the acquisition of commodities. Analysis of the assemblage data is performed at multiple levels comprising weighted ranking of goods and the application of Correspondence Analysis, with investigation performed on both functional categories and artefact types. Setting the results against theories of consumption and rationality, consumer choice in the ancient world is examined. From this detailed examination of twelve Pompeian houses, ‘core’ and ‘fringe’ commodities and recurring suites of goods are identified. Non-luxury goods are given particular attention as they provide information concerning the consumption of everyday utility objects. This approach also allows the evaluation of statements about the state of occupation of houses in sites such as Pompeii. The results validate this form of analysis as an important tool for assessing the role of the consumer in economies of the ancient world, moving beyond concepts of conspicuous consumption and group values. This research provides a structured interpretive framework upon which varied archaeological data can be superimposed to interrogate the motivations behind commodity acquisition. This research also raises the potential for future consumption modelling using multivariate statistics. Through the application of consumer theory to Roman data, discussion of ancient economies is shifted away from a focus on production to one of demand, choice, and sites of consumption.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Terry Griffin / Rosburg Farms is a crop farm in Northwest Iowa that specializes in corn and soybean production. The oldest farm operator, Richard was looking ahead to retirement while the next generation, Brian has been working to identify an entry strategy into the operation as a beginning farmer. The purpose of this research was to identify and evaluate candidate alternatives that Brian could bring to Rosburg Farms and to understand if the operation was at a point where Brian was needed as full time labor. Three candidate scenarios including renting additional crop acreage, building a hog facility, and building a poultry layer house were evaluated via SWOT analyses. The SWOT analysis results indicated that renting additional crop acres was the best candidate alternative for the farming operation. To understand how adding the additional acreage to crop production affects the timeliness of the operation and to identify binding resources a whole-farm linear programming planning model was parameterized. Parameters included available labor, machinery, days suitable for field work, crop rotations and available acreage. Production enterprise budgets for corn and soybean production and a projected cash flow were developed to understand if this acreage expansion would be profitable for the multi-family farming operation. The results of the planning model indicated that the field work operations would be completed with the available labor, machinery, and days suitable for fieldwork. The production budgets and cash flow results indicated that Rosburg Farms would remain profitable once farm size was expanded with additional rented acreage. Considering Brian employed off the farm, it was not necessary for him to quit his job to farm full time at this point. Future analysis should be used to understand at what farm size are needed to justify Brian leaving his off-farm employment to farm full time. These results are applicable beyond the Rosburg farm and are of interest to beginning farmers, farms anticipating transition to next generation, and professional specializing in succession planning.

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This project was a case study with a Local Authority (Charnwood Borough Council, Leicestershire) to research the options in response to the challenges of managing household waste. This research focused on establishing and analysing methods of improving the sustainability of household waste management operation within a Waste Collection Authority, where the interaction with a variety of external and internal stakeholders meant a holistic approach was needed. Waste management practices and performances in Charnwood were evaluated and benchmarked against national standards and the demography of a semi-rural Borough. Waste management practices nationally were also reviewed. The performance of the LA was quantitatively compared with other UK LAs where higher recycling performances are achieved. Differences were separate food waste collection and treatment; a larger proportion of urban housing and the university with a transient population. Other differences included strategy and operational practices for garden waste, the storage, collection, transportation and treatment of waste. A time series statistical model was modified and applied to investigate long term waste generation trends from the Boroughs official waste data returns to Defra. These were used to assess the success of interventions undertaken. This statistical model was able to differentiate interventions that were able to achieve lasting improvements in either waste minimisation or recycling. The declaration of a Zero Waste Strategy was to capture the public imagination. A series of focus groups and public consultations were held to judge public reaction and develop and refine the strategy. These were used to adapt the Zero Waste idea to suit the local conditions. A major conclusion was that householder involvement would be crucial for successful implementation of the further separation of waste that would be required.

This essay examines how the organization and size of the mansion household changed atGarpenberg’s mansion between 1800-1899, in the terms of servants, their occupation and wherefrom they were recruited. This has been done by using catechetical lengths as the primary source.By looking at which types of servants that worked within the mansion, and how the structurechanged, this study tries to answer how the organization and size of the mansion household changedduring the 19th century. This survey has shown that the total amount of servants at Garpenberg’smansion increased during the time period, but the mansion household itself remained relativelyconstant throughout the century. In addition, more servants began to form their own households andwere partly no longer dependent of the gentry that owned the mansion.

Transforming the composition of families and households in the 19th and 20th centuries in a selected area of the Czech Lands Abstract The aim of this work is to analyze changes in the size and composition of families and households in the 19th and 20th centuries in the South Bohemian town of Soběslav. The research is based on a comparison of data obtained excerption of census in 1869, 1880 and 1910. The first part of the demographic analysis focuses on the assessment of the size and structure of the population by age, sex, family status and nationality. In the second part the survey data from individual census are processed for individual households and families. The notion of familly and household is based on the basis of cohabitation. The division of households by the P. Laslett was used.