IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/aaeatr/356155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Undergraduate Applied Microeconomic Research with Demographic and Health Surveys

Author

Listed:
  • Gitter, Seth R.
  • Boyd, Chris M.
  • Abbasi, Raissa

Abstract

Undergraduate students have demonstrated a growing demand for research opportunities, particularly concerning the world’s poorest people. United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) Program offers nationally representative data on more than 90 low-income countries that allow for the study of central issues highlighted by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as good health, education, women’s empowerment, and access to clean water (SDGs 3–6). In this paper, we provide an extensive overview of the DHS data, previous research with DHS data, and potential research ideas for undergraduate students. A detailed appendix provides instructors with a framework and resources to teach undergraduates to use DHS data as part of course assignments, course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE), or theses. Using the DHS data and these resources, students can engage in active learning exercises that address some of the key policy issues of their generation.

Suggested Citation

  • Gitter, Seth R. & Boyd, Chris M. & Abbasi, Raissa, 2025. "Undergraduate Applied Microeconomic Research with Demographic and Health Surveys," Applied Economics Teaching Resources (AETR), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 7(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaeatr:356155
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/356155/files/6GitterFull.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Seema Jayachandran & Rohini Pande, 2015. "Why Are Indian Children So Short?," NBER Working Papers 21036, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. McGavock, Tamara, 2021. "Here waits the bride? The effect of Ethiopia's child marriage law," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    3. Esther Gehrke & Christoph Kubitza, 2024. "Agricultural Productivity and Fertility Rates: Evidence from the Oil Palm Boom in Indonesia," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(1), pages 316-347.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Qifei & Wang, Meng, 2022. "Opening of high-speed rail and the consumer service industry: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 31-45.
    2. Sun, Chuanwang & Tie, Ying & Yu, Lili, 2024. "How to achieve both environmental protection and firm performance improvement: Based on China's carbon emissions trading (CET) policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    3. Zhu, Chen & Xia, Yuqing & Liu, Qing & Hou, Bojun, 2023. "Deregulation and green innovation: Does cultural reform pilot project matter," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 84-105.
    4. Yuvraj Pathak & Karen Macours, 2017. "Women’s Political Reservation, Early Childhood Development, and Learning in India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(4), pages 741-766.
    5. Kidman, Rachel & Raub, Amy & Martin, Alfredo & Bhuwania, Pragya & Bose, Bijetri & Heymann, Jody, 2024. "Reducing child marriage in sub-Saharan Africa: Evaluating the joint potential of protective marriage and education policies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    6. Ren, Shenggang & Wu, Yanping & Zhao, Li & Du, Lei, 2024. "Third-party environmental information disclosure and firms' carbon emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    7. Assefa, Thomas W. & Magnan, Nicholas & McCullough, Ellen & McGavock, Tamara, 2022. "Stifled by Stigma? Experimental Effects of Updating Husbands’ Beliefs on Participation in Women’s Household Work," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322470, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Christensen, Cheryl, . "Progress and Challenges in Global Food Security," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 0(01).
    9. Rachel Cassidy & Anaya Dam & Wendy Janssens & Umair Kiani & Karlijn Morsink, 2024. "Targeting men, women or both to reduce child marriage," IFS Working Papers W24/23, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Aurino, Elisabetta, 2017. "Do boys eat better than girls in India? Longitudinal evidence on dietary diversity and food consumption disparities among children and adolescents," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 99-111.
    11. Zhui Liu & Yuchun Tian, 2025. "The impact of corruption governance on enterprise ambidextrous innovation: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 15(2), pages 349-384, June.
    12. Alberto Posso & Udeni De Silva Perera & Ankita Mishra, 2021. "Community‐level health programs and child labor: Evidence from Ethiopia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 2995-3015, December.
    13. Matthias Rieger & Sofia Karina Trommlerová, 2016. "Age-Specific Correlates of Child Growth," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(1), pages 241-267, February.
    14. Asker, Erdal & Rees, Daniel I. & Agüero, Jorge, 2025. "Big Sisters and Child Marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa," IZA Discussion Papers 17867, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Daniel Aaronson & Rajeev Dehejia & Andrew Jordan & Cristian Pop-Eleches & Cyrus Samii & Karl Schulze, 2021. "The Effect of Fertility on Mothers’ Labor Supply over the Last Two Centuries [Semiparametric instrumental variables estimation of treatment response models]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(633), pages 1-32.
    16. González, Libertad, 2018. "Sex selection and health at birth among Indian immigrants," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 64-75.
    17. Alacevich, Caterina & Tarozzi, Alessandro, 2017. "Child height and intergenerational transmission of health: Evidence from ethnic Indians in England," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 65-84.
    18. ManMohan S. Sodhi & Christopher S. Tang, 2016. "Supply chain opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 43(2), pages 125-134, June.
    19. Baten, Joerg & de Pleijt, Alexandra M., 2022. "Female autonomy generated successful long-term human capital development: Evidence from 16th to 19th century Europe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    20. Song, Jinbo & Nie, Rong & Yuan, Hehui & Gao, Jingxin, 2023. "Does the renovation of waste-to-energy incineration plants attenuate the housing price gradient? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in Shenzhen, China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaeatr:356155. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.