Pesando, Luca Maria
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Publication Up, Down and Reciprocal: The Dynamics of Intergenerational Transfers, Family Structure and Health in a Low-Income Context(2017-06-07) Payne, Collin F.; Pesando, Luca Maria; Kohler, Hans-PeterIn the absence of well-functioning public transfer systems and safety nets, the family acts as the key provider of income and support through the intergenerational redistribution of resources. In this paper we use micro-level longitudinal data and a mix of methodologies to document the lifecycle patterns of financial transfers in a rural, sub-Saharan African population. Underneath a well-established age-pattern of intergenerational transfers in which transfer patterns change according to broad stages of the economic life cycle, our analyses document significant heterogeneity and fluidity: Intergenerational transfers are variable and reverse their direction, with individuals moving between the provider and recipient states repeatedly across their life course and within each major stage of the life-cycle. Contrary to common perceptions about family transfers ameliorating short-term shocks, transfers in our analyses are driven primarily by demographic factors such as changes in health, household size, and household composition, rather than short-term events. Overall our analyses suggest that the role of transfers in this rural sub-Saharan context is significantly more complex than suggested by theories and evidence on aggregate transfer patterns, and at the micro-level, intergenerational transfers encapsulate multiple functions ranging from direct exchange to old-age support in the absence of a public pension system.Publication Household Determinants of Teen Marriage and Childbearing: Sister Effects Across Four Low- and Middle-Income Countries(2018-03-29) Pesando, Luca Maria; Abufhele, AlejandraUsing data from the “Young Lives” study of childhood poverty tracking a cohort of children from the ages of 8 to 19, this paper aims to investigate the household determinants of teen marriage and teen pregnancy in four low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), namely Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. Its contribution is twofold. First, we offer a descriptive and comparative overview of the prevalence of teen marriage and childbearing in geographically selected areas across the four countries of interest, together with their socio-demographic determinants. Second, we place a specific focus on the role of gender and sibling sex-composition in shaping the probability of getting married and/or having a child by age 19. We test the hypothesis that in contexts where resources are scarce and customs are rooted, parents tend to arrange their daughters’ marriages in order, hence girls with older sisters face a lower risk of marrying early or giving birth, all else equal. We show that, while in most countries the presence and number of older sisters in the household is associated with a 10-to-30- percent lower likelihood of teen marriage and pregnancy, the evidence weakens – and somewhat reverses in Ethiopia – once a presumably causal effect is estimated. As such, our findings enrich and complement existing evidence on the role of sibling sex-composition on later-life outcomes in LMICs.Publication Does Financial Literacy Increase Students’ Perceived Value of Schooling?(2017-01-01) Pesando, Luca MariaUsing data from the 2012 Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) for Italy, this paper investigates whether financial literacy skills play a role in shaping the value that high school students place on schooling. We hypothesize that higher financial literacy may foster students’ awareness of the financial and non-financial benefits of gaining additional education, together with the costs associated with poor school outcomes. We complement OLS estimates with an instrumental variable (IV) approach to recover a plausibly causal effect of financial literacy on the school outcomes of interest, namely (a) truancy and time spent on homework outside of school (time commitment to education), and (b) attitudes towards school (attitudes). Results suggest that higher financial literacy increases students’ perceived value of schooling by boosting their time commitment to education. Conversely, there is no evidence that financial literacy shapes students’ attitudes towards school. We see this finding as consist is easier to measure objectively and reliably than attitudes.Publication Three Essays On Family, Gender, And Educational Change Across Low- And Middle-Income Countries(2018-01-01) Pesando, Luca MariaOver the past half century, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have undergone profound transformations in the realm of the family, accompanied by shifts in gender norms and practices, and dramatic increases in schooling. Rising educational attainment has in turn been a by-product of micro-level behavioral changes on the part of families, alongside macro-level socio-structural factors such as industrialization, urbanization, and targeted educational policies. This dissertation advances the field of social demography by exploring the interrelations between family, gender, and educational dynamics across LMICs. Although the three essays represent self-contained articles, they all trace linkages between these three dimensions with a focus on LMICs, thus contributing new empirical knowledge on policy-relevant population processes in contexts that have to date received less scholarly attention. The first chapter provides a macro-level overview on the changing nature of families across multiple domains with advances in socio-economic development. Its focus is on family change, yet gender features in the type of indicators considered, some of which are computed separately for men and women – showing vastly divergent patterns – while others capture men and women’s bargaining power within the couple. Educational expansion features throughout the discussion as one key driver of family change and one component of the Human Development Index (HDI) proxying for socio-economic development. The second chapter provides an overview on trends, variation, and implications of educational assortative mating for inequality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Mating patterns are vital to understanding the demographic makeup of households, such as family formation, composition, and breakdown. The focus on education and gender is inherent in the type of question raised (educational homogamy/heterogamy) and perspective adopted (couple). The third chapter explores the effect of a cash-transfer intervention given to parents on children’s schooling and unpaid work in rural Morocco. As such, the family focus is tied to a parental investment perspective, while the educational focus comes from the policy considered – a cash transfer promoted by the government – and the outcomes analyzed – school dropout and grade progression. Lastly, gender features throughout the discussion as analyses consider heterogeneity by gender, and unpaid care dynamics show striking gender differences.Publication Global Family Change: Persistent Diversity with Development(2018-02-07) Pesando, Luca Maria; Castro, Andrés F.; Andriano, Liliana; Furstenberg, Frank; Behrman, Julia A.; Kohler, Hans-Peter; Billari, Francesco; Monden, ChristiaanThis paper provides a broad empirical overview of the relationship between family change and socio-economic development drawing on 30+ years of Demographic and Health Survey data from 3.5 million respondents across 84 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We conduct two sets of analyses. First, we document global and regional-level associations between the Human Development Index (HDI) and novel indicators reflecting multidimensional family change. Second, we use methods from the growth convergence literature to examine whether – and in which domains – there is evidence of cross-country convergence in family indicators over levels of development. We show that families in LMICs have transformed in multiple ways, changing differently across domains, world regions, and genders. Fertility, intra-couple decision-making, and women’s life-course timing indicators are strongly associated with HDI, yet cross-country convergence is limited to the latter domain. Marriage, cohabitation, household structure, and men’s life-course timing indicators are more weakly associated with HDI, and span a broad spectrum of convergence dynamics ranging from divergence to modest convergence. We describe this scenario as “persistent diversity with development,” and shed light on the underlying regional heterogeneity – driven primarily by sub-Saharan Africa.