This study will investigate the economic determinants of adult ill-health and mortality in Malaysia and Indonesia, using an extremely rich set of data, the first and second Malaysia Family Life Surveys (MFLS) and the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS). While substantial progress has been made in examining economic correlates of child health and mortality, rather little work has been done on adult correlates. This is due in part to the absence of data sets which have detailed health and socio-economic data at the individual, household and community levels. The two MFLS's and the IFLS meet these stringent criteria. We will investigate reduced form determinants of adult ill-health and mortality. Special attention will be paid to aged adults, using two health indicators; measures of functional difficulties with activities of daily living (ADL's) and a self-reported measure of general health status. We will investigate the effects of the elderly's living arrangements on their health, explicitly taking into account that living arrangements are chosen (endogenous). In particular, we are interested in investigating the hypothesis that the health status of frail older individuals is better if they live with their children than if they live alone. For both prime-age and elderly adults we will investigate the effects of individual and household level covariates such as the education of all family members and household income. A novel feature of the analysis will be its focus on intergenerational effects. Specifically, characteristics of all children will be determinants of the health of elderly adults, and similarly the characteristics of the parents will be determinants of the health of prime age adults. In addition to individual and household level covariates, we will examine the effects of community infrastructure and prices on health status. We are specifically interested in the effects of the availability and price of different types of health care providers and programs. We will also examine the impact of variables that influence the community illness environment such as quality of housing, and water and sewerage infrastructure. We will test for interactions between the availability of community infrastructure and household characteristics. This will help us understand the conditions under which household and community investments have their greatest payoffs. For example, to what extent are the effects of education or household income reduced (or strengthened) in areas where toilet sanitation is poor and sources of clean water unavailable? Finally, using the MFLS-1 and -2 we will investigate the importance of potential bases caused mortality selection.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
1994-10-01
Budget End
1995-09-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
1995
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Rand Corporation
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Santa Monica
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90401
Frankenberg, Elizabeth; Suriastini, Wayan; Thomas, Duncan (2005) Can expanding access to basic healthcare improve children's health status? Lessons from Indonesia's 'midwife in the village' programme. Popul Stud (Camb) 59:5-19
Thomas, Duncan; Frankenberg, Elizabeth (2002) Health, nutrition and prosperity: a microeconomic perspective. Bull World Health Organ 80:106-13
Frankenberg, E; Thomas, D (2001) Women's health and pregnancy outcomes: do services make a difference? Demography 38:253-65
Beegle, K; Frankenberg, E; Thomas, D (2001) Bargaining power within couples and use of prenatal and delivery care in Indonesia. Stud Fam Plann 32:130-46
Peabody, J W; Gertler, P J; Leibowitz, A (1998) The policy implications of better structure and process on birth outcomes in Jamaica. Health Policy 43:1-13
Lillard, L A; Willis, R J (1997) Motives for intergenerational transfers: evidence from Malaysia. Demography 34:115-34
Peabody, J W; Gertler, P J (1997) Are clinical criteria just proxies for socioeconomic status? A study of low birth weight in Jamaica. J Epidemiol Community Health 51:90-5
DaVanzo, J; Sine, J; Peterson, C et al. (1994) Reversal of the decline in breastfeeding in Peninsular Malaysia? Ethnic and educational differentials and data quality issues. Soc Biol 41:61-77
Peabody, J W; Rahman, O; Fox, K et al. (1994) Quality of care in public and private primary health care facilities: structural comparisons in Jamaica. Bull Pan Am Health Organ 28:122-41
Rahman, O; Strauss, J; Gertler, P et al. (1994) Gender differences in adult health: an international comparison. Gerontologist 34:463-9

Showing the most recent 10 out of 12 publications