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Weighing the value of Asset Proxies: The case of the Body Mass Index in South Africa

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  • Martin Wittenberg

    (School of Economics, University of Cape Town)

Abstract

There are many household surveys, e.g. the Demographic and Health Surveys, that carry a wealth of useful information but in which information of interest to economists, chiefly or missing altogether. In many of these surveys, however, there are questions about asset ownership. These might be used to proxy for income. Indeed some authors have suggested that asset-based measures of wellbeing may even be better than income or expenditure-based ones, since they may reflect of the household better. They may also be more accurately measured (Filmer and Pritchett 2001, Sahn and Stifel 2003). This is a joint SALDRU/DataFirst Working paper as part of the Mellon Data Quality Project. For more information about the project visit www.datafirst.uct.ac.za.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Wittenberg, 2009. "Weighing the value of Asset Proxies: The case of the Body Mass Index in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 39, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    • Handle: RePEc:ldr:wpaper:39
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wittenberg, Martin, 2007. "Testing for a common latent variable in a linear regression," MPRA Paper 2550, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Sahn, David E. & Stifel, David C., 2000. "Poverty Comparisons Over Time and Across Countries in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 2123-2155, December.
    3. Darren Lubotsky & Martin Wittenberg, 2006. "Interpretation of Regressions with Multiple Proxies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(3), pages 549-562, August.
    4. Chou, Shin-Yi & Grossman, Michael & Saffer, Henry, 2004. "An economic analysis of adult obesity: results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 565-587, May.
    5. Boyle, Michael H. & Racine, Yvonne & Georgiades, Katholiki & Snelling, Dana & Hong, Sungjin & Omariba, Walter & Hurley, Patricia & Rao-Melacini, Purnima, 2006. "The influence of economic development level, household wealth and maternal education on child health in the developing world," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 2242-2254, October.
    6. Christina Paxson & Norbert Schady, 2007. "Cognitive Development among Young Children in Ecuador: The Roles of Wealth, Health, and Parenting," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(1).
    7. Filmer, Deon*Pritchett, Lant, 1998. "Estimating wealth effects without expenditure data - or tears : with an application to educational enrollments in states of India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1994, The World Bank.
    8. David McKenzie, 2005. "Measuring inequality with asset indicators," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(2), pages 229-260, June.
    9. Ainsworth, Martha & Filmer, Deon, 2006. "Inequalities in children's schooling: AIDS, orphanhood, poverty, and gender," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1099-1128, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Martin Wittenberg & Murray Leibbrandt, 2017. "Measuring Inequality by Asset Indices: A General Approach with Application to South Africa," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(4), pages 706-730, December.
    2. Martin Wittenberg, 2013. "The Weight of Success: The Body Mass Index and Economic Well-Being in Southern Africa," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59, pages 62-83, October.
    3. Taylor, Stephen & Spaull, Nicholas, 2015. "Measuring access to learning over a period of increased access to schooling: The case of Southern and Eastern Africa since 2000," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 47-59.
    4. Emmanuel Maliti, 2019. "Inequality in Education and Wealth in Tanzania: A 25-Year Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 901-921, October.
    5. Martin Wittenberg, 2011. "The Weight of Success: The Body Mass Index and Economic Well-being in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 65, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.

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