Browsing by Author "Becker, CM"

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    Appendix to 'Queen Bees and Domestic Violence: Patrilocal Marriage in Tajikistan'
    (Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID), 2016-10-31) Becker, CM; Turaeva, M
    Appendix to “Queen Bees and Domestic Violence: Patrilocal Marriage in Tajikistan,” available here: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2862096.
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    Forced Marriage and Birth Outcomes
    (Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID), 2016-04-06) Becker, CM; Mirkasimov, B; Steiner, S
    We study the impact of bride kidnapping, a peculiar form of marriage practiced in Central Asia, on child birth weight. The search for a suitable mate in a kidnapped marriage is initiated by the groom, and there is typically non-coerced consent only by the male. We expect adverse consequences from such marriages, working through poor spousal matching quality and subsequent psychosocial stress. We analyze survey data from rural Kyrgyzstan. We apply several estimation models, including an IV estimation in which we instrument kidnapping among young women with the district-level prevalence of kidnapping among older women. Our findings indicate that children born to kidnapped mothers are of a substantially lower birth weight than children born to mothers who are not kidnapped. This has important implications for children’s long-term development; it also discredits the ritualized-kidnapping-as-elopement view.
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    Is high-tech care in a middle-income country worth it?: Evidence from perinatal centres in Russia
    (Economics of Transition, 2016-01-01) Nigmatulina, D; Becker, CM
    © 2016 The Authors Economics of Transition © 2016 The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Published by Blackwell Publishing LtdHow much does a dramatic increase in technology improve healthcare quality in an upper middle-income country? Using rich vital statistics on infant health outcomes, this study evaluates the effect of introducing technologically advanced perinatal hospitals in 24 regions of Russia on infant mortality during the period 2009–2013. A 7-year aggregate panel dataset reveals that opening a perinatal centre corresponds to infant mortality reduction by 3.8 percent from the baseline rate, neonatal (0–28 day) mortality by 7 percent and early neonatal (0–6 day) mortality by 7.3 percent. We find that the perinatal centres help to save 263 additional infant lives annually, ranging from 3 to 25 lives in regions with different birth rates. However, we further find that an average cost per life saved is 52 million rb (or 2.6 million 2014 PPP USD), which is much higher than the cost of similar interventions in the United States.
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    Queen Bees and Domestic Violence: Patrilocal Marriage in Tajikistan
    (Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID), 2016-10-31) Becker, CM; Turaeva, M
    A longstanding tradition of patrilocal marriage – living with the parents-in-law – affects every generation of Central Asian women and their choices regarding childbearing, employment and education. While anthropological evidence suggests that elder matriarchs (Queen Bees) play a key and often detrimental role in the lives of the junior women in their households, rigorous empirical studies are scarce. We use Tajikistan 2012 DHS data to explore the correlation between domestic violence and young married women’s living arrangements. Through a quasi-experimental study designed, we establish a positive and statistically significant treatment effect. Women who live with the in-law family are at least 24.6% more likely to experience emotional abuse committed by their husbands/partners. A similar effect does not emerge between physical violence, either severe or less severe, and a presence of the Queen Bee in the household.
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    Speculative Price Bubbles in the Rice Market and the 1974 Bangladesh Famine
    (Journal of Economic Development, 2000-12) Quddus, M; Becker, CM
    This paper investigates the role played by speculative price bubbles in destabilizing food markets in Bangladesh during the 1974 famine. The hypothesis of speculative price bubbles in the rice market is tested using weekly price data. These tests are based on a theoretical model of storable food markets in which agents exhibit rational expectations. It is shown that such markets are susceptible to destabilizing trends by self-fulfilling expectations. While "explosive price bubbles" have received extensive attention in macroeconomics, they have not been used in development economics to explain famines. Amartya Sen has hypothesized that speculative forces are a possible source of instability in the food market. Our empirical tests based on techniques from the recent literature on price bubbles lend some credence to the hypothesis that excessive speculation may have produced price bubbles in the rice market which directly contributed to the Bangladesh famine in 1974.
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    The Value of Manufactured Housing Communities: A Dual-Ownership Model
    (Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID) Working Paper, 2015-10-15) Becker, CM; Yea, A
    There are roughly 50,000 manufactured housing communities (MHCs) in the United States, yet there appears to be virtually no academic research on their asset values. Using a detailed, proprietary database provided by Colliers International, we address this gap. We find that, due to the dual nature of rental and ownership in manufactured housing ownership, MHC values are driven by community rental income and thus affected by median month contract housing rents that surround the community. While value remains affected by traditional factors such as occupancy, location quality, and size of land, it emerges that manufactured housing community sales values are highly sensitive to local rental alternatives. We also find evidence that corporate MHC buyers pay less and sellers receive more for parks relative to smaller “mom-n-pop” owners.
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    The Z-Axis: Elevation Gradient Effects in Urban America
    (Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID), 2016-06-07) Ye, V; Becker, CM
    This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of hilliness effects in American urban communities. Using data from seventeen cities, robust relationships are established between elevation patterns and density and income gradients. We find that high-income households display strong preference for high-altitude, high-unevenness locations, leading to spatial income stratification at both the city and tract-level. We further analyze potential causes of this propensity: micro-climate, crime, congestion, view effects, and use of public transit. We conclude that the role of elevation in urban systems should not be neglected. Multi-dimensional spatial methods are crucial to investigations of cities with substantial unevenness. Redistributive social and economic policies must struggle with a fundamental, topographical dimension to inequality.