Labor economics
Public finance

Health economics
Introduction to economics
Labor economics
Microeconomics
Economics of the family
Public finance

May 1994 (Written) Microeconomic Theory and Macroeconomic Theory
September 1995 (Oral)

The Determinants of Education and Child Health: Evidence from Pakistan

T. Paul Schultz
Joel Waldfogel
Jennifer Hunt

Completed 1998

A.B Economics (Summa cum laude, high honors) Colgate University 1993
M.A. Economics Yale University 1994
M.Phil. Economics Yale University 1996
Ph.D. Economics Yale University 1998

Rockefeller Foundation Graduate Fellowship (1997-98)
Yale University Graduate Fellowship (1993-98)
J. Melbourne Shortliffe Prize for Excellence in Economics, Colgate University, 1993
Phi Beta Kappa, Colgate University, 1992
Dana Scholar (Academic Scholarship and Community Leadership), 1991-1993

2000-2001 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Colgate University
     Fall Semester: Introduction to Economics (2 sections)
     Spring Semester: Introduction to Economics (2 sections)
     Health Economics

1995-96 Teaching Fellow, Department of Economics, Yale University
     Fall Semester: Intermediate Microeconomics
     Spring Semester: Introduction to Microeconomics

1998-2000 Consultant, National Economic Research Associates, New York, NY
Directed projects and drafted testimony using economic analysis in the areas of securities and product-liability litigation. Much of the analysis for shareholder class actions focused on issues of materiality, causation and damages. Typical product-liability analyses focused on the estimation of future personal injury claims and expected settlements.

1995-96 Research Assistant, Department of Economics, Yale University
With Professor T. Paul Schultz – Studied the racial differences in school attainment among children in South Africa. Research included the construction of necessary variables from the World Bank survey of 9,000 households and econometric analysis of the demand for child schooling.

With Professor Joel Waldfogel – Studied discrimination in bail setting for criminals in New Haven as well as the characteristics that influence university tenure decisions. Research included collection of relevant data, preparation of the database and programming the econometric analysis for each study.

• "Cheaper by the Dozen?: The Marginal Time Costs of Children in the Philippines" (with Jill Tiefenthaler), in Population Research and Policy Review; 16(6), December 1997.
• "Crowding Out Private Health Insurance: Medicaid’s ‘Medically Needy’ Program," working paper, revise and resubmit at Public Finance Quarterly.
• "The Determinants of Completed Schooling in Pakistan: Analysis of Censoring and Selection Bias," working paper, revise and resubmit at Economics of Education Review. Also published in Yale University’s Economic Growth Center Discussion Series (#794).
• "The Demand for Oral Rehydration Salts in the Treatment of Diarrhea: Evidence from Pakistan," working paper.
• "The Effects of Local Health Infrastructure on Child Health: Evidence from Rural Pakistan," working paper.

The thesis includes three studies of household demand for child schooling and child health, based on the 1991 Pakistan Integrated Household Survey. The first study explores the relative effects of individual, household and community-level factors on school attainment of boys and girls ages 5-25 in Pakistan. Parental education, household resources and access to middle and secondary schools are identified as significant factors affecting the demand for child schooling. This study makes a methodological contribution by focusing on two potential sources of bias in the estimation of child schooling, First, studies which do not distinguish between currently enrolled children and those who have completed their schooling subject their estimates to a form of censoring bias. Second, studies that exclude children who have left the household introduce sample selection bias if the decisions to leave home and to attend school are related. This study provides empirical evidence that inappropriate treatment of incomplete spells of schooling and an elimination from the sample of children who have left their parent’s household can substantially bias estimates of the impact of family and community factors on school attainments of children.

The second study is one of few economic studies to examine the determinants of both the incidence of diarrhea and the subsequent use of oral rehydration salts (ORT) to mitigate its severity. Improving our understanding of the prevalence and treatment of diarrheal disease is important for all developing countries, and in particular for Pakistan, where diarrhea is the leading cause of infant and child mortality, claiming the lives of 300,000 children annually. The results suggest that one way to lower diarrheal incidence is through construction of sewage systems in highly populated, rural areas and in the urban regions most affected by monsoon rains. Increasing resources available to the household should also reduce the incidence of diarrhea in both rural and urban communities and increase demand for ORT. There is also some weak evidence that reducing the cost of the salt packets may increase the demand for ORT in urban areas.

The third study focuses on the effect of quality and accessibility of health services and other public infrastructure on both anthropometric outcomes and immunization status of rural children under five. It also explores whether local infrastructure substitutes or complements mother’s education and household resources in the production of child health. Few studies examine the effect of health service quality on child health outcomes, particularly in Pakistan. Results suggest that community characteristics such as piped water, waste disposal and access and quality of local health facilities play a significant role in the determination of child health in rural Pakistan. Furthermore, the impacts of improvements to community infrastructure differ according to the wealth status of the household and the educational level of the child’s mother. In general, public infrastructure increases immunizations among children of less educated mothers and children from wealthier families. Conversely, enhancements of community infrastructure increase the nutritional status of children of more educated mothers and boys from poorer households.