The research project intends to investigate the responses of households to economic uncertainty and natural shocks and the coping strategies developed both in terms of growing migration rates and remittance inflows and of increasing labour supply. In the first Chapter, we employ household survey data from the Indian State of Kerala to evaluate how transfers of remittances sent from overseas respond to heterogeneous sectoral employment shocks experienced by migrants in the host country during the 2008 crisis. In the second chapter, migration and remittances have been investigated as coping strategies adopted by households after a dramatic flood that hit Bangladesh in August-September 2014. The combination of high-resolution satellite data to precisely measure our treatment variable and the difference-in-difference estimations allow us to causally identify the impact of the dramatic flooding on internal and international migration. The same robust estimation technique is then applied to evaluate the effect of the 2014 flood in Bangladesh on female labour force participation rate and on the probability for unemployed women to enter the labour force. In addition, correcting for selection into employment, we estimate how the flood affects the probability for women working in the household farm to engage in independent wage-earning activities, evaluatiing whether the expected rise in female labour force participation - instrumented by the shock intensity they face - would help to increase their bargaining power within the households.

This thesis investigates the perceptions of female migrant household workers situated in Saudi Arabia and how remittances can be a sustainable livelihood for them and their households. There has been limited research surrounding female household workers' own perceptions of sustainable livelihoods and particularly of those situated in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this thesis aims to fill a research gap surrounding both Saudi Arabia and female household workers perceptions. The research is focused on understanding livelihood outcomes for these women’s households and what assets are important to maintain and enhance remittances as a livelihood strategy. The study is a case study that was conducted by semi-structured face-to-face interviews involving 18 female household workers from Africa and Asia. Furthermore, the study was highly influenced by the Sustainable livelihood framework and the findings suggested that remittances have a positive impact on livelihood outcomes in terms of intangible and tangible well-being. The study also explores the complex dynamics of remittances and assets whereas the findings regarding assets suggest that different capitals and assets have been highly important in maintaining and enhancing both each other and the option to use remittances as a livelihood strategy. Lastly, the perceptions of the interviewed women fall under the criteria of what a sustainable livelihood should entail and the findings further highlight knowledge brought by theories from the Sustainable livelihood approach and New Economics of Labor Migration.

Many children in developing countries forgo education due to the direct or opportunity costs of attending school. To help defray the direct costs of secondary schooling, the Ghanaian government launched its free secondary school initiative in 2017, which sought to make tuition and all educational-related expenses free for every Ghanaian child who passed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). The first objective of this study is to examine to what extent the association between household income and school enrollment decreased in strength over time due to Ghana’s 2017 policy reform using the Ghana socio-economic panel survey (GSPS) and difference-in-differences estimation technique. Our results show that household assets (a proxy for income) had a significant and positive association with school enrollment before the policy change; however, household assets have no significant association with enrollment after the policy change, thus suggesting that family resources do not matter for child enrollment after the policy change. Our results also imply that the 2017 policy reform effectively reduced the hurdles facing lower-income families in paying for secondary school education. The second objective of this study is to examine the effects of this government policy on household labor market outcomes in Ghana. Using the Ghana Socio-Economic Panel Survey (GSPS) and the difference-in-differences estimation technique, we found an increase in labor supply and wages for households with SHS kids before the policy change; however, after policy reform, both labor supply and wages of SHS households decreased suggesting that the free SHS policy did eliminates the direct cost of schooling. These results also indicate that the free SHS policy has significant implications for human capital development and household welfare and health since the policy eliminates the direct cost of schooling. The third chapter examines the impact of environmental tax revenues on domestic healthcare expenditures using panel data of 96 developing and developed countries from 2000 to 2018 and the fixed effect estimation technique. We find a positive and statistically significant association between total environmental tax revenue and government health expenditures; however, this finding is primarily driven by low-income countries. In addition, we find a positive effect of all kinds of environmental tax revenues on government health expenditures; however, the largest and strongest effect arises with pollution tax and transport tax respectively. Our empirical results confirm the validity of the double dividend hypothesis, thus suggesting that environmental tax revenues have significant implications for public health expenditures.

This thesis investigates the factors that affect women's bargaining power within the household, in India. The first chapter introduces the literature on household bargaining mostly by describing how household outcomes like children's health indicators and expenditure pattern change with increase in resources under women's control. The second chapter describes the conceptual framework for intra-household bargaining. It discusses the two broad topics – household bargaining models and gendered institutions, that can be used to identify avenues for increasing women's bargaining power within the household. In chapters three and four, I analyze the factors that determine women's power position, using data on women's involvement in household decision making from a nationally representative longitudinal household survey (India Human Development Survey). The survey was conducted in over 40,000 Indian households, which covers over 200,000 individuals. In the third chapter, I investigate the effect of women's labor force participation on her involvement in household decision making. After addressing the issues of endogeneity using a fixed effects model, I find that her labor market participation significantly increases her involvement in decision making process, which can be seen as a direct outcome of her increased bargaining power. In my fourth chapter I analyze whether the women's bargaining power within the household increases with the presence of female politicians at both state and local level. Studying the causal impact of a variable like female political representation is generally riddled with concerns of endogeneity for existence of voter preference. Using share of seats won by women in man-woman close elections as an instrument for overall female representation in in a fixed effect model, I show that an increase in number of female state legislators can actually lead to an increase in the bargaining power of women. This chapter further shows that increase in women's involvement in decision making process in the household is also associated with the female political representation at local level. The fifth chapter concludes the dissertation by making policy recommendation for strengthening women's bargaining position within the household. / Ph. D.

Introduction and Rationale: Household Air Pollution (HAP) refers to the pollution of air in the indoor environment, from the combustion of solid fuels such as biomass and coal. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2.6 billion people today are exposed to HAP daily. Women and children tend to be at a higher risk of exposure due to their increased time spent indoors. This can result in a range of adverse cardio-respiratory outcomes such as asthma, Acute Lower Respiratory Infection (ALRI) and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This thesis document investigates the association between HAP and the adverse respiratory outcomes, namely lung function, ALRI and asthma in children. Methodology: Systematic Reviews were conducted to synthesize the effect of HAP on lung function, ALRI, and asthma. The lung function outcome was synthesized in a narrative manner, while the pooled estimates for the ALRI and asthma outcomes were synthesized by meta-analysis. Results: Exposure to HAP is associated with decreased lung function growth, and an increased risk of the incidence of ALRI in children. No association was noted between HAP exposure and the incidence of asthma in children. Conclusion: The effect of HAP on childhood growth of lung function and the incidence of ALRI provides evidence justifying the universal transition to cleaner fuels and technologies, such as electricity and natural gas. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Household Air Pollution (HAP) refers to the pollution of indoor air caused by the combustion of solid fuels, such as biomass, for the purposes of heating and cooking. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.6 billion people are exposed to HAP daily. Women and children are especially at high risk of exposure, due to the time spent indoors. This places them at a higher risk of adverse respiratory outcomes, such as Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (ALRI), asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and reduced lung function. This thesis document investigates the association between HAP and the adverse respiratory outcomes, namely lung function, ALRI and asthma in children. It was found that HAP is associated with a decrease in childhood lung function growth, and an increased risk of the incidence of ALRI. However, there was no clear association between the incidence of asthma and HAP. The results of the systematic reviews justify a transition from the use of solid fuels to clean fuels and technologies.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.