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The Effect of Household Characteristics on Living Standards in South Africa 1993 - 98: A Quantile Regression Analysis with Sample Attrition

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  • Farshid Vahid
  • Pushkar Maitra

Abstract

This paper examines whether the dismantling of apartheid has resulted in the improvement in the standard of living for the vast majority of South Africans. The study is based on a panel data set from the Kwazulu-Natal province. Despite the best efforts of the interview team, the attrition rate in this panel is around 16%. We find that household income and size in 1993, several community characteristics and survey quality in 1993 significantly affect the probability of attrition. We use weighted quantile regressions to examine the distribution of standards of living, which corrects for the potential bias arising from non-random sample attrition. Our results show that there has been a significant increase in the spread of the distribution of household expenditure of the Non-White households residing in Kwazulu-Natal province. We argue that the stretch to the right of the upper tail of distribution can be attributed to significant increase in returns to primary and high school education, while movement to the left of the lower quantiles can be associated with the increase in the proportion of female headed households and household size.

Suggested Citation

  • Farshid Vahid & Pushkar Maitra, 2005. "The Effect of Household Characteristics on Living Standards in South Africa 1993 - 98: A Quantile Regression Analysis with Sample Attrition," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2005-452, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2005-452
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    File URL: https://www.cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/econ/wp452.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Martine Mariotti & Juergen Meinecke, 2009. "Nonparametric Bounds on Returns to Education in South Africa: Overcoming Ability and Selection Bias," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2009-510, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    2. Essama-Nssah, B. & Bassole, Leandre, 2010. "A counterfactual analysis of the poverty impact of economic growth in Cameroon," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5249, The World Bank.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • C24 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models; Threshold Regression Models

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