Nighttime lights and wealth in very small areas:

Nighttime lights observed from satellites are a widely accepted proxy measure for economic development. This is mainly based on cross-country evidence that finds strong correlations between lights and Gross Domestic Product. Yet, the evidence on the correlations at local levels is scarce, and it often relies on randomly sampled survey data. We contribute by enhancing the understanding of the relationship between light and development at local levels. First, we use complete (non-publicly available) census data from Namibia to evaluate the findings based on the randomly sampled Demographic and Health Surveys data. We find that the census data provides a stronger association between light and wealth at local levels. Second, we criticize the practice of aggregating light from buffers around survey cluster locations. Instead, we recommend aggregating data in grid cells, and studying the relationship in different grid sizes. In our study correlations based on grid cells remain significant from a 0.5 degree grid to the smallest 0.0083 degree grid (~1 km2) allowed by the nighttime light data. Third, we supplement the commonly used relative wealth index by using individual asset variables as proxies for the total stock of wealth. The stock variables reveal a significant association between changes in light and wealth which cannot be found using our relative wealth index. Altogether, our results show that nighttime lights provide an even stronger signal of economic development at local levels than the current survey-based results in the literature suggest.

Relative consumption, relative wealth, and long-run growth: when and why is the standard analysis prone to incorrect conclusions?

We employ a novel approach for analyzing the effects of relative consumption and relative wealth preferences on economic growth. In the pertinent literature, these effects are usually assessed by examining the dependence of the growth rate on the two parameters of the utility function that seem to measure the strength of the relative consumption and the relative wealth motives. Applying our fundamental factor approach, we identify specifications in which the traditional approach yields incorrect qualitative conclusions. The problematic specifications have the common unpleasant property that the parameter that seems to determine the strength of the relative consumption motive actually also affects the elasticity of intertemporal substitution of absolute consumption (and the strength of the relative wealth motive). Since the standard approach is unaware of the additional effect(s), it attributes the total change in the growth rate incorrectly to the change in the strength of the relative consumption motive.

Holding Up Half the Family

The Chinese diaspora seen as a movement, at least in the years before the mid-twentieth century, is characterised largely as one of men. But the majority of these men stayed in close connection with an equally great, if not larger, group of women who remained at home in their south China villages. It is argued here that the role and significance of these women of the villages in the Chinese diaspora has been greatly under-researched. It is also argued that such neglect has meant that too great an emphasis has been put in the literature on leaving and settlement, as opposed to remaining and returning. Life for these women in the villages was one dependent on remittances, which in turn was a mixture of relative wealth and poverty, dependence and independence, authority and anxiety, and loneliness and freedom. It is concluded that the integration of half the participants in the Chinese diaspora – in so far as our largely male-based sources allow – into the literature of the Chinese overseas has much to offer in terms of our interpretation of the impact of the restrictive laws of the white-settler nations and of the motivations of those who returned to the villages and of those who did not.

Socio-economic condition and lack of virological suppression among adults and adolescents receiving antiretroviral therapy in Ethiopia

Introduction The potential impact of socio-economic condition on virological suppression during antiretroviral treatment (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa is largely unknown. In this case-control study, we compared socio-economic factors among Ethiopian ART recipients with lack of virological suppression to those with undetectable viral load (VL). Methods Cases (VL>1000 copies/ml) and controls (VL<150 copies/ml) aged ≥15years, with ART for >6 months and with available VL results within the last 3 months, were identified from registries at public ART clinics in Central Ethiopia. Questionnaire-based interviews on socio-economic characteristics, health condition and transmission risk behavior were conducted. Univariate variables associated with VL>1000 copies/ml (p<0.25) were added to a multivariable logistic regression model. Results Among 307 participants (155 cases, 152 controls), 61.2% were female, and the median age was 38 years (IQR 32–46). Median HIV-RNA load among cases was 6,904 copies/ml (IQR 2,843–26,789). Compared to controls, cases were younger (median 36 vs. 39 years; p = 0.004), more likely to be male (46.5% vs. 30.9%; p = 0.005) and had lower pre-ART CD4 cell counts (170 vs. 220 cells/μl; p = 0.009). In multivariable analysis of urban residents (94.8%), VL>1000 copies/ml was associated with lower relative wealth (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.98; 95% CI 1.49–5.94; p = 0.016), geographic work mobility (aOR 6.27, 95% CI 1.82–21.6; p = 0.016), younger age (aOR 0.94 [year], 95% CI 0.91–0.98; p = 0.011), longer duration of ART (aOR 1.19 [year], 95% CI 1.07–1.33; p = 0.020), and suboptimal (aOR 3.83, 95% CI 1.33–10.2; p = 0.048) or poor self-perceived wellbeing (aOR 9.75, 95% CI 2.85–33.4; p = 0.012), after correction for multiple comparisons. High-risk sexual behavior and substance use was not associated with lack of virological suppression. Conclusion Geographic work mobility and lower relative wealth were associated with lack of virological suppression among Ethiopian ART recipients in this predominantly urban population. These characteristics indicate increased risk of treatment failure and the need for targeted interventions for persons with these risk factors.

My Gain or Your Loss? Changes in within-Couple Relative Wealth and Partners’ Life Satisfaction

This article studies the relationship between partner’s wealth share and their life satisfaction in different-sex couples using the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017). Resource-based theories and gender ideology are two prominent approaches to explain the effects of within-couple relative resources on various outcomes. Recently, scholars have argued that not relative but absolute personal resources are the crucial factor (autonomy perspective). Testing these different approaches is challenging because relative wealth mathematically perfectly depends on both partners’ absolute wealth, meaning the effects of relative and absolute wealth are hard to disentangle. To accurately test the theoretical approaches, this study analyses the relationship between relative wealth and life satisfaction under different conditions, such as whether relative wealth increases due to an increase in one’s own absolute wealth or a decrease in one’s partner’s absolute wealth. Individual fixed effects regressions show no statistically significant relationships between relative wealth and life satisfaction for men. In contrast, for women the relationship between their relative wealth and life satisfaction is significantly positive, in line with resource-based theories and the autonomy perspective. Further analyses reveal that this relationship is driven rather by changes in women’s own than in their partner’s absolute wealth.