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SummaryThis paper models the proximate determinants of height, weight and haemoglobin concentration of over 25,000 Indian children using data from the National Family Health Survey-3. The effects of public and private health care service utilization, food consumption patterns and maternal health status on child health were investigated in a multidisciplinary framework. Methodological issues such as potential endogeneity of explanatory variables and the appropriateness of combining height and weight as the body mass index were tackled. The results from models for children's heights and weight showed beneficial effects of child vaccinations against DPT, polio and measles, and negative effects of not utilizing government health facilities. The models for children's haemoglobin concentration indicated beneficial effects of food consumption patterns and treatment against intestinal parasites. The results provide several insights for improving child health in India.

This paper applies probit regression models to a nationally representative household survey dataset collected in 2016-2017 to analyze the relationships between various socio-demographic variables and adult Body Mass Index (BMI) in Suriname. Our results indicate that women, the elderly, and couples either married and/or living together are more likely to be obese or overweight. As expected, this is also true for individuals who have chronic illnesses. The analysis also finds that individuals who engage in a sport or in other forms of exercise, even if modest, have lower odds of being overweight or obese. Interestingly, the findings indicate that individuals who benefit from government social safety net programs are less likely to be associated with being overweight or obese. The results of this study have implications for the adjustment of current Surinamese nutritional guidelines as well as the design and implementation of targeted obesity-reduction policies that recognize that being overweight is influenced by various characteristics. Although the results are country-specific, they have the potential to influence action in all countries in the Caribbean that lack policies to address obesity.

Although maternal socioeconomic status and health predict in part children's future health and socioeconomic prospects, it is possible that the intergenerational association flows in the other direction such that child health affects maternal outcomes. Previous research demonstrates that poor child health increases the risk of adverse maternal physical and mental health outcomes. The authors hypothesize that poor child health may also increase the risk of poor maternal health outcomes through an interaction between child health and factors associated with health outcomes, such as marital status, marital quality, and socioeconomic status. Using data on women in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 cohort ( N = 2,279), the authors find evidence that the effects of certain maternal marital quality and socioeconomic factors on maternal physical and mental health depend on child health status and vice versa.

This paper identifies socioeconomic factors that are supposed to impact the investment decision of private households in Germany regarding small-scale solar PV (photovoltaic) systems. In 2022, the last nuclear power plant will phase out and the end of coal-fired power plants is fixed for 2038. Thus, the legislator is mandated to foster the addition of renewable energy capacities to close the gap fossil fuels and nuclear power leaves. Some share of the renewable energies could be from private households that mainly invest in small-scale solar PV systems. To stimulate investments, it is necessary to identify factors that are important for the investment decisions of private households. Within this paper, secondary socioeconomic data for the period from 2009–2018 was compiled. In order to identify the latent variables, a factor analysis was conducted. The results state five factors that are supposed to impact the investment decisions of the prosumer in Germany.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the market assisted land reform effects over a range of socioeconomic factors of farms in the Jordan River Valley. These factors include: age, education, total factor productivity, net farm income and gross output per farm and per dunum. The outcomes of this investigation indicated that the buyer group farmers are similar in terms of age and education to other identified groups in the region. However, they were found to be more efficient and more productive over the above-mentioned economic performance criteria. Thus, legislation to speed up the mobility of resources could be justified in the ground of enhancing economic resource use in the Valley. Credit facilities could be in tool on this process.

SummaryThe effects of selected socioeconomic factors on basic competencies of children in Bangladesh were studied using primary data on 2520 children from all over the country. The residence of the child, years of schooling, parental education and economic status of the household were found to be important determinants of basic competencies of children.

We explore the relationship between willingness to take financial risk and the probability of taking out a loan for educational purposes as well as the influence of risk attitudes on the size of the loan using data drawn from the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances. The findings suggest a positive relationship between individuals' willingness to take financial risk and the probability of taking out a loan for educational purposes. Similarly, individuals' willingness to take financial risk appears to have an important relationship with the size of the educational loan. The findings suggest that non‐white individuals and females are less likely to finance education through loans which could potentially increase inequalities in education and income if such individuals are deterred from investing in human capital. (JEL I22, I23)

Participation in voluntary groups is potentially an important way to create health promoting social capital. This paper investigates women's participation in voluntary groups, utilising data from a postal survey of 968 female respondents and in‐depth interviews with 30 women. Logistic regression was conducted to examine factors associated with frequency of women's group involvement. Not working full time, living in a married relationship, and having a university education were all significantly associated with regular involvement. The qualitative data further illustrated some of the ways in which these three factors were linked with women's involvement in groups. We conclude that women who were able to regularly participate were those who already enjoyed levels of social and economic privilege. Policies to promote social capital via participation might focus on identifying what types of group involvement benefit women's health, and increasing the accessibility of such groups to include diverse groups of women.

AbstractFunctional neuroimaging may provide insights into the achievement gap in reading skill commonly observed across socioeconomic status (SES). Brain activation during reading tasks is known to be associated with individual differences in children's phonological language skills. By selecting children of equivalent phonological skill, yet diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to demonstrate that a child's experience, as operationalized by SES, can systematically modulate the relationship between phonological language skills and reading‐related brain activity in left fusiform and perisylvian regions. Specifically, at lower socioeconomic levels, individual differences in skill result in large differences in brain activation. In contrast, as SES increases, this relationship between phonological language skill and activation is attenuated. Socioeconomic background factors are thus found to modulate brain–behavior relationships in reading, indicating that cognitive, social, and neurobiological influences on reading development are fundamentally intertwined.