Parental Time Poverty, Child Work and School Attendance in Ghana

Employment-related time poverty, time stress and food away from home behaviour: Panel evidence from Australia

This study examines the link between employment-related time poverty and food away from home (FAFH) behaviour. We use a large representative sample of Australians drawn from five waves of panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Endogeneity biases stemming from reverse causality and omitted variable issues are resolved using fixed effect-instrumental variable approach while other quasi-experimental methods are applied to check for consistency in findings. Overall, we find that employment-related time poverty is associated with an increase in the likelihood of engaging in FAFH behaviour. In specific terms, it is associated with an increase in the likelihood of consuming breakfast, dinner, and supper away from home. Employment-related time poverty is associated with an increase in FAFH tendencies more among females and those located in rural/remote communities. Regarding mealtimes, employment-related time poverty is associated with an increase in the drive towards FAFH behaviour more for lunch, followed by breakfast and dinner respectively. Psychological feeling of time stress is discovered as an important pathway via which time poverty is associated with an increase in FAFH tendencies.

Can health financing programmes reduce food insecurity in a developing country?

Despite the devastating effects of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures on households' financial outlays, which potentially stifle household resources needed for food consumption, the health financing program-food insecurity nexus is yet to receive much needed attention in the literature. This study makes a significant contribution by investigating the effect of health financing program, conceptualised as membership of a National Health Insurance Scheme, on household food insecurity using the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) and several quasi-experimental methods. Using data from the seventh round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey, our endogeneity-corrected results indicate that membership of a health financing program can contribute to reduction in household food insecurity. The results are robust to alternative conceptualisations of food insecurity and different quasi-experimental methods. The effect of health financing programme membership on food insecurity is more pronounced among urban and female-headed households. Our findings further point to household savings as an important channel through which membership of health financing program reduces food insecurity.

Mobile money and entrepreneurship in East Africa: the mediating roles of digital savings and access to digital credit

Purpose

This study aims to examine the comparative link between mobile money (MoMo) and entrepreneurship in East Africa. Apart from analysing the data to examine locational, gender and age heterogeneities in the MoMo–entrepreneurship nexus, the authors explore the potential roles of digital savings and access to digital credit in serving as transmission channels in the link between MoMo adoption and entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses nationally representative samples from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda which were extracted from the fifth wave of the InterMedia Financial Inclusion Insights (FII) Program. The authors employ a suite of quasi-experimental microeconometric techniques—standard instrumental variable estimation, Lewbel two-stage least squares (2SLS) and propensity score matching.

Findings

Overall, the authors’ preferred endogeneity-corrected result suggests that adopters of MoMo are 24.4 percentage points more likely to engage in entrepreneurship. This result is robust to alternative ways of conceptualising MoMo adoption and different methods used in resolving endogeneity. The association between MoMo and entrepreneurship is stronger in Kenya compared to Uganda and not significant in Tanzania. The significant positive association between MoMo and entrepreneurship is observed among women and rural residents and not for their male and urban-located counterparts. MoMo significantly enhances entrepreneurship among the youth and adults but not the elderly. Digital savings and access to digital credit serve as important channels through which FinTech adoption influences entrepreneurship.

Practical implications

The entrepreneurship-enhancing effect of MoMo adoption can be extended to discuss the possibility of employing MoMo as a policy tool to contribute to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SGD) 8 which seeks to ensure full and productive employment and decent work for all. Incomes that accrue from entrepreneurial activities can also increase households' purchasing power to decrease poverty (SDG 1), reduce food insecurity (SDG 2) and provide resources needed to purchase clean and modern cooking and lighting fuels (SGD 7).

Social implications

The growing rate of unemployment and vulnerable employment in Africa has been an issue of concern to policy makers. These problems have been caused by the inability of policy makers to create adequate jobs. The study’s findings show that policies geared towards enhancing the diffusion of MoMo can augment efforts being made by governments to decrease the unemployment rate in Africa through increased entrepreneurship. The employment effect of MoMo can also be realised through the emergence of digital entrepreneurship which has been identified as having the potential to transform African economies to knowledge-based economies for sustainable development.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the MoMo literature by deviating from the focus of existing studies which have emphasised more on the intermediate outcome (performance) and less on the immediate (i.e. entrepreneurship or small business venturing). This helps to highlight the entrepreneurship effect of MoMo which has evolved from a simple peer-to-peer payment system to a complex one that provides savings, credit, insurance and other products.