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The costs of consumption smoothing: less schooling and less nutrition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2019

Leandro De Magalhães ,
Dongya Koh  and
Räul Santaeulàlia-Llopis
Leandro De Magalhães*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, Economics, 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TH, UK
Dongya Koh
Affiliation:
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
Räul Santaeulàlia-Llopis
Affiliation:
MOVE-UAB and Barcelona GSE, Barcelona, Spain
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: leandro.demagalhaes@bristol.ac.uk
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Abstract

Using novel microdata, we explore lifecycle consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa. We find that households' ability to smooth consumption over the lifecycle is large, particularly, in rural areas. Consumption in old age is sustained by shifting to self-farmed staple food, as opposed to traditional savings mechanisms or food gifts. This smoothing strategy indicates two important costs. The first cost is a loss of human capital as children seem to be diverted away from school and into producing self-farmed food. Second, a diet largely concentrated in staple food (e.g., maize in Malawi) in old age results in a loss of nutritional quality for households headed by the elderly.

Keywords

Consumptionlifecyclenutritionschoolingself-farmingsmoothingSub-Saharan Africa

JEL classification

R20: General E21: Consumption • Saving • Wealth O11: Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 85 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 181 - 208
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2019 

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