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Income, health, and well-being in rural Malawi

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  • Brian Chin

    (University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

This paper attempts to isolate the causal link of income on health status and subjective well-being for the rural population in Malawi using three waves of household panel data spanning the period 2004-2008 from the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project (MDICP) and the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH). Malawi is a low-income country with high background morbidity and mortality, as well as an AIDS epidemic, high fertility, and poor reproductive health. Instrumental variables and fixed effects strategies are used to try to address endogeneity of the income to health relationship. The analyses show that a 10% increase in income improves mean general health status of rural Malawians by 1.0% and mean subjective well-being by 1.2%.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian Chin, 2010. "Income, health, and well-being in rural Malawi," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 23(35), pages 997-1030.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:23:y:2010:i:35
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2010.23.35
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Fu-Min Tseng & Dennis James Petrie, 2014. "The Implications for Health, Depression, and Life Satisfaction from a Permanent Increase in Income for the Disadvantaged Elderly: Evidence from Taiwan," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 311-336, September.
    3. Frijters, Paul & Lalji, Chitwan & Pakrashi, Debayan, 2020. "Daily weather only has small effects on wellbeing in the US," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 747-762.
    4. Hanandita, Wulung & Tampubolon, Gindo, 2014. "Does poverty reduce mental health? An instrumental variable analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 59-67.
    5. David Brady & Michaela Curran & Richard Carpiano, 2023. "A test of the predictive validity of relative versus absolute income for self-reported health and well-being in the United States," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 48(26), pages 775-808.
    6. Abubakari Ahmed & Eric Dompreh & Alexandros Gasparatos, 2019. "Human wellbeing outcomes of involvement in industrial crop production: Evidence from sugarcane, oil palm and jatropha sites in Ghana," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-33, April.
    7. Sanni Yaya & Sharmistha Ghosh & Bishwajit Ghose, 2019. "Subjective Happiness, Health and Quality of Life and Their Sociocultural Correlates among Younger Population in Malawi," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Qu, Yanbo & Li, Yan & Zhao, Weiying & Zhan, Lingyun, 2023. "Does the rural housing land system reform model meeting the needs of farmers improve the welfare of farmers?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    9. Asma Hyder & Jere R Behrman & Hans-Peter Kohler, 2015. "Negative economic shocks and child schooling: Evidence from rural Malawi," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 458-476, July.
    10. Smith, Lisa C. & Haddad, Lawrence, 2015. "Reducing Child Undernutrition: Past Drivers and Priorities for the Post-MDG Era," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 180-204.
    11. Priscilla Duboz & Gilles Boëtsch & Lamine Gueye & Enguerran Macia, 2017. "Self-rated health in Senegal: A comparison between urban and rural areas," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(9), pages 1-16, September.
    12. Feindouno, Sosso & Arcand, Jean-Louis & Guillaumont, Patrick, 2024. "COVID-19's death transfer to Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    13. Kahouli, Sondès, 2020. "An economic approach to the study of the relationship between housing hazards and health: The case of residential fuel poverty in France," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    14. Olukorede Abiona, 2017. "Adverse Effects of Early Life Extreme Precipitation Shocks on Short-term Health and Adulthood Welfare Outcomes," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1229-1254, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    HIV/AIDS; income; Malawi; self-reported health; subjective well-being;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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