Health, Enterprise, and Labor Complementarity in the Household

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Adhvaryu, Achyuta; Nyshadham, Anant
• 署名单位: University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; National Bureau of Economic Research; Boston College
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.11.007
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 91-111
• 关键词: Enterprise; Health shocks; Intra-household allocation; labor supply

摘要

We study the role of household enterprise as a coping mechanism after health shocks. Using variation in the cost of traveling to formal sector health facilities to predict recovery from acute illness in Tanzania, we show that individuals with prolonged illness switch from farm labor to enterprise activity. This response occurs along both the extensive (entry) and intensive (capital stock and labor supply) margins. Family members who are not ill exhibit exactly the same pattern of responses. Deriving a simple extension to the canonical agricultural household model, we show that our results suggest complementarities in household labor.