Labor Effects of Adult Mortality in Tanzanian Households

Abstract

Because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Sub-Saharan African populations are challenged with increasing adult mortality rates that have potentially profound economic implications. Yet, little is known about the impact of adult deaths in African households. Using panel data from Tanzania, Beegle explores how prime-age adult mortality affects the time allocation of surviving household members and the portfolio of household farming activities. The author analyzes farm and chore hours across demographic groups and finds small and insignificant changes in labor supply of individuals in households experiencing a prime-age adult death. While some farm activities are temporarily scaled back and wage employment falls after a male death, households did not shift cultivation toward subsistence food farming and did not appear to have reduced their diversification over income sources more than six months after a death.

This paper - a product of the Poverty Team, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to better measure and understand the economic impact of HIV/AIDS.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, adult death, time use, Tanzania

JEL Classification: J22, O12, Q12