Essays on the effects of adult mortality on education and food security

This dissertation examines the effects of adult mortality on households in South Africa, focusing on education and food security. The first chapter motivates the analysis through a discussion of the broad impacts of mortality on household welfare in South Africa. This chapter discusses the effects of the deaths of working aged adults on education, agriculture and food security, household composition and migration, and the environment.; The second chapter examines the effects of adult death on the educational achievement of children within the household, concluding that children in households experiencing a death advance fewer grade levels than do children in unaffected households. Results indicate that children in households experiencing a death complete fewer levels of schooling in a given time period than do children in unaffected households. Children of different ages are not affected differently. Results concerning the relative effects of male and female death are inconclusive there is no indication that girls are more adversely affected by a female death than are boys. Deaths in 1995 and 1996 have a small positive affect on the probability of dropping out of school but overall, enrollment does not appear to be affected by death.; The third chapter uses cross-sectional data from all provinces in South Africa to examine the effects of death on enrollment status and to compare these results with analogous results from the panel data. In contrast to results from the previous chapter, results from both the cross-section and panel data do not show a significant effect of death on enrollment status. This indicates that enrollment status alone may not be an adequate measure for education effects, since children may remain enrolled by paying fees even if they are not attending school or advancing in grade levels.; The final chapter examines the effects of an adult death in the household on agricultural production and livestock holdings. Death can negatively impact a farming household's ability to purchase and produce food by depriving it of cash income and labor. Households experiencing an adult death lose the labor, and/or the wages, of the deceased family member and, in the case of death preceded by illness, also must divert resources to caring for the sick. If death is widespread within a community or region, then coping mechanisms are strained and the impact is greater. Results suggest that variety of crops decreases for both male and female deaths, as do livestock holdings. Maize production increases relative to other crops, indicating that households experiencing a death begin to rely more on staple crops. Total per capita caloric production increases after a female death (due to the increase in maize production) and decreases after a male death. This chapter also contains an appendix that examines the effects of death on nutritional status of children on the household, measured as weight for height and height for age. Results indicate that nutritional status is not affected by the death of an adult in the household. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...