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Re-assessing the Impact of the Grandparent’s Income on the Infant Mortality Rate: An Evaluation of the Old Age Allowance Program in Nepal

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  • Li, Yunrong
  • Mora, Ricardo

Abstract

Most studies find that the presence of grandmothers is associated with higher child survival rates while the presence of a grandfather has no effect. In this paper we argue that the use of incomplete retrospective information on household composition may lead to substantial downward biases in the estimates of the grandfather’s effect. To illustrate our argument, we study the effects of the introduction of a non-contributory universal pension scheme on infant mortality in Nepal. We use cross-sectional data from the 1996 and 2001 Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys and implement a flexible difference-in-differences approach using as treatment indicator the presence in the household of an elderly person eligible for the pension benefits. Our results confirm the importance of the income of the elderly for infant welfare. In households that include an eligible elderly person, the pension scheme resulted in survival benefits of approximately 7–8 percentage points 12months after birth from a baseline probability of approximately 89%. Importantly, these results do not depend on the gender of the elderly person. Moreover, we show that ignoring the lack of retrospective information on household composition leads to underestimates of the true effects when the elderly person is a male. These results are qualitatively similar across alternative definitions of the control group and do not depend on the gender of the infant. In addition, we explore potential channels through which these survival benefits are produced, and our results suggest that the pension scheme benefited infants only after their birth and mostly during the first month of life.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Yunrong & Mora, Ricardo, 2016. "Re-assessing the Impact of the Grandparent’s Income on the Infant Mortality Rate: An Evaluation of the Old Age Allowance Program in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 333-348.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:87:y:2016:i:c:p:333-348
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.07.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Esther Duflo, 2003. "Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Old-Age Pensions and Intrahousehold Allocation in South Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(1), pages 1-25, June.
    2. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias, 2009. "Alternative Approaches to Evaluation in Empirical Microeconomics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(3).
    3. Esther Duflo, 2000. "Child Health and Household Resources in South Africa: Evidence from the Old Age Pension Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 393-398, May.
    4. Jan Beise, 2004. "The helping and the helpful grandmother - The role of maternal and paternal grandmothers in child mortality in the 17th and 18th century population of French Settlers in Quebec, Canada," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2004-004, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    5. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    6. Jan Beise & Eckart Voland, 2002. "A multilevel event history analysis of the effects of grandmothers on child mortality in a historical German population (Krummhörn, Ostfriesland, 1720-1874)," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2002-023, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Sharma, Kishor, 2006. "The political economy of civil war in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1237-1253, July.
    8. Sear, Rebecca & Steele, Fiona & McGregor, Ian A. & Mace, Ruth, 2002. "The effects of kin on child mortality in rural Gambia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 247, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. repec:cte:werepe:we1233 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Jan Beise & Eckart Voland, 2002. "A multilevel event history analysis of the effects of grandmothers on child mortality in a historical German population," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 7(13), pages 469-498.
    11. Rebecca Sear & Fiona Steele & Ian McGregor & Ruth Mace, 2002. "The effects of kin on child mortality in rural gambia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(1), pages 43-63, February.
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