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Three Essays On The Economics Of Children’S Health And Education In Nepal, Khusiman Pun

Economics ETDs

First essay: This paper studies the impact of Nepal’s 1996-2006 Maoist insurgency on the nutritional status of children. We employ the difference-in-difference (DID) model. The proxy for conflict intensity is killings per thousand population (KPT). The finding of our study is that a marginal increase in KPT decreases the height-for-age (HAZ) of the children by 0.0844. The loss in child health was statistically not significant in both non-poor and poor households. Therefore, the impact of the insurgency on child health is largely driven by the negative effect of the insurgency on Janajaties, irrespective of their economic status.

Second essay: This …

Ostromian Lessons For Post-Disaster Resilience: Evidence From The 2015 Earthquake In Nepal, Veeshan Rayamajhee

Economics ETDs

The dissertation is organized in six chapters. The first chapter provides a synopsis of the four research articles that are comprised in this manuscript. It outlines the goals of each article and connects them to specific Ostromian insights to shed light on the empirical findings. Chapters 2, 3, and 5 are based on a field study that I conducted in Sindhupalchowk, Nepal following the devastating earthquake in 2015. Chapter 4 uses case studies from Chicago, New Orleans, Nepal, and Indonesia. The final chapter summarizes major lessons from the four papers.

The second chapter investigates household-level coping responses to the 7.8 …

Understanding And Modifying Health Behaviors, Kristina N. Piorkowski

Economics ETDs

This dissertation explores two drivers behind the spread of non-communicable diseases – sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and youth tobacco use – in order to improve policies tailored to mitigate these behaviors. Chapter 2 uses primary survey data to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for a tax on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) in New Mexico. Traditional contingent valuation regression methods were reformulated as a three-equation system. Results indicate that respondents who have healthier eating habits have statistically significantly higher preferences for SSB taxes. The estimated individual median WTP 95% confidence interval was 0.002-0.961 pennies-per-ounce. Chapter 3 continues the exploration into SSB …

An Analysis Of Socio-Economic Consequences Of Cancer In Nepal, Soumi Roy Chowdhury

Economics ETDs

This dissertation investigates the socio-economic burden of cancer patients using a primary survey in Nepal. Given the low uptake rate of cancer screening facilities in developing countries, my study covers three important issues: the need of information dissemination on cancer prevention among asymptomatic individuals, the emotional stress of cancer patients in relation to a control group of patients, and the severity of economic burden due to premature cancer related deaths measured at the national and individual levels. In developing countries with low level of information and awareness, it is difficult to communicate the importance of cancer preventative measures to the …

Poverty, Inequality, Violent Conflict, And Welfare Loss: Micro-Level Evidence From Nepal, Mani K. Nepal

Economics ETDs

Poverty alleviation has become one of the main global agendas of the twenty first century, but the identification and targeting of the poor is facing fundamental problems due to the lack of required information. We utilize the micro-level estimation technique to estimate household expenditure for the census households using Nepalese household surveys, and estimate different measures of poverty and inequality at the national level as well as at the regional, districts and village levels, and for the different caste/ethnic groups. Our findings indicate that the reduction in poverty during 1995/96 — 2003/04 is not uniform across the villages of Nepal, …