The economic consequences of AIDS mortality in South Africa

Cally Ardington, Till Bärnighausen, Anne Case and Alicia Menendez

Journal of Development Economics, 2014, vol. 111, issue C, 48-60

Abstract: We quantify the impact of adult deaths on household economic wellbeing, using a large longitudinal dataset spanning more than a decade. Verbal autopsies allow us to distinguish AIDS mortality from that due to other causes. The timing of the lower socioeconomic status observed for households with AIDS deaths suggests that the socioeconomic gradient in AIDS mortality is being driven primarily by poor households being at higher risk for AIDS, rather than AIDS impoverishing the households. Following a death, households that experienced an AIDS death are observed being poorer still. However, the additional socioeconomic loss following an AIDS death is very similar to the loss observed from sudden death. Funeral expenses can explain some of the impoverishing effects of death in the household. In contrast, the loss of an employed member cannot. To date, antiretroviral therapy has not changed the socioeconomic status gradient observed in AIDS deaths.

Keywords: AIDS; Mortality; Funerals; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387814000856
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:111:y:2014:i:c:p:48-60

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2014.08.001

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Development Economics is currently edited by M. R. Rosenzweig

More articles in Journal of Development Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().