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PARENTAL MORBIDITY, CHILD WORK, AND HEALTH INSURANCE IN RWANDA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2016

Maame Esi Woode ,
Marwân-al-Qays Bousmah  and
Raouf Boucekkine
Maame Esi Woode
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille University Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics) ORS PACA
Marwân-al-Qays Bousmah
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille University Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS and EHESS
Raouf Boucekkine*
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille University (IMéRA and Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS and EHESS, Senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France
*
Address correspondence to: Raouf Boucekkine, Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS, 2 rue de la Charité, 13002 Marseille, France; e-mail: raouf.boucekkine@univ-amu.fr
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Abstract

Measuring direct and indirect effects of extending health insurance coverage in developing countries is a key issue for health system development and for attaining universal health coverage. This paper investigates the role played by health insurance in the relationship between parental morbidity and child work decisions. We use a propensity score matching technique combined with hurdle models, using data from Rwanda. The results show that parental health shocks have a substantial influence on child work when households do not have health insurance. Depending on the gender of the sick parent, there is a substitution effect not only between the parent and the child on the labor market, but also between the time the child spends on different work activities. Altogether, results reveal that health insurance protects children against child work in the presence of parental health shocks.

Keywords

Health shocksChild workHealth insuranceRwandaPropensity scoresHurdle modelI13I15J22O12
Type
Essays
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 83 , Issue 1: Short Essays on African Demography and Economic Development , March 2017 , pp. 111 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2016 

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Footnotes

This work has been completed thanks to the support of the A*MIDEX project (no. ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02) funded by the “Investissements d’Avenir” French Government program, managed by the French National Research Agency (ANR). The authors would like to thank Mohammad Abu-Zaineh, Martine Audibert, Emmanuelle Augeraud-Veron, Stephen Bazen, Jean-Paul Moatti, Carine Nourry, Nicholas James Sheard, and Bruno Ventelou for helpful comments and suggestions. The authors are solely responsible for any remaining errors.

References

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