@inproceedings{Grimm2006Mortality,
abstract = {The literature suggests that in developing countries illness shocks at the
household level can have a negative and severe impact on household income.
Few studies have so fare examined the effects of mortality. The major difference
between illness and mortality shocks is that a death of a household
member does not only induce direct costs such as medical and funeral costs
and possibly a loss in income, but that also the number of consumption units
in the household is reduced. Studies so far focused mainly on adult mortality,
disregarded the death of other household members and distinguished
only insufficiently between the immediate impact, and the impact after coping
strategies have been implemented. Using data for Indonesia, I show that
the economic costs related to the death of children and older persons seem
to be fully compensated by the decrease of consumption units in the household.
In contrast, when prime-age adults die, survivors face additional costs
due to the loss of income and, in consequence, implement coping strategies.
These strategies are quite efficient and it seems that on average households
even over-compensate their loss. This suggests that the implementation of
general formal safety nets which are still absent in Indonesia?as in most
developing countries?can give priority to the insurance of other types of
risks, such as unemployment, illness or natural disasters.},
author = {Michael Grimm},
copyright = {http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen},
keywords = {O12; J12; I12; D12; 330; Mortality; risk; insurance; micro-model of consumption growth; Indonesia},
language = {eng},
number = {9},
series = {Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Berlin 2006 / Verein f\"{u}r Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics},
title = {Mortality and survivors' consumption},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10419/19837},
year = {2006}
}
