Publications
17 results found
Rosa Dias JP, Firpo S, Martyna K, et al., 2023, Loss aversion and the welfare ranking of policy interventions, Journal of Econometrics, ISSN: 0304-4076
This paper develops theoretical criteria and econometric methods to rank policy interventions in terms of welfare when individuals are loss-averse. Our new criterion for “loss aversion-sensitive dominance” defines a weak partial ordering of the distributions of policy-induced gains and losses. It applies to the class of welfare functions which model individual preferences with non-decreasing and loss-averse attitudes towards changes in outcomes. We also develop new semiparametric statistical methods to test loss aversion-sensitive dominance in practice, using nonparametric plug-in estimates; these allow inference to be conducted through a special resampling procedure. Since point-identification of the distribution of policy-induced gains and losses may require strong assumptions, we extend our comparison criteria, test statistics, and resampling procedures to the partially-identified case. We illustrate our methods with a simple empirical application to the welfare comparison of alternative income support programs in the US.
Rosa Dias JP, Karen G, Marcos VH, et al., 2022, Estimating the impact of trained midwives and upgraded health facilities on institutional delivery rates in Nigeria using a quasi-experimental study design, BMJ Open, ISSN: 2044-6055
Objectives: Studies have shown that demand-side interventions, such as conditional cash transfers and vouchers, can increase the proportion of women giving birth in a health facility in low and middle-income countries, but there is limited evidence of the effectiveness of supply-side interventions. We evaluated the impact of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme Maternal and Child Health Project (SURE-P MCH) on rates of institutional delivery and antenatal care.Design, setting, and participants: We used a differences-in-differences study design that compared changes in rates of institutional delivery and antenatal care rates in areas that had received additional support through the SURE-P MCH programme relative to areas that did not. Data on outcomes were obtained from the 2013 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey.Results: We found that the programme significantly increased the proportion of women giving birth in a health facility by approximately 7 percentage points (p-value 0.069) or approximately 10% relative to the baseline after 9 months of implementation. The programme, however, did not significantly increase the use of antenatal care. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest there could be important improvements in institutional delivery rates through greater investment in supply-side interventions.Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund
Rosa Dias JP, Darzi A, Eyal N, 2020, COVID-19 Challenge Trials Would Save Lives And Avert Years In Poverty By Significant Margins, Health Affairs Blog
Basu A, Jones AM, Cordas da Rosa Dias JP, 2018, Heterogeneity in the impact of type of schooling on adult health and lifestyle, Journal of Health Economics, Vol: 57, Pages: 1-14, ISSN: 0167-6296
Using data from a major educational reform in England and Wales, we examine heterogeneity in the long-term impacts of the exposure to different secondary schooling systems, characterized by selective early-tracking system versus non-selective comprehensive schooling, on health outcomes and smoking. We adopt a local instrumental variables approach to estimate person-centered treatment (PeT) effects, thereby recovering the full distribution of individual-level causal effects. We find that the transition from a selective early-tracking system to a non-selective one produced, on a fraction of individuals, significantly increased depression and cigarette smoking. These effects were persistent over time. Cognitive abilities did not moderate the effects, but students with lower non-cognitive skills were most likely to be negatively affected by this exposure.
Roemer JE, Rosa Dias P, 2016, Barefoot and footloose doctors: optimal resource allocation in developing countries with medical migration, Social Choice and Welfare, Vol: 46, Pages: 335-358, ISSN: 0176-1714
Rosa Dias P, 2015, Rowing against the current., Health Econ, Vol: 24, Pages: 1248-1250
Li Donni P, Rodríguez JG, Rosa Dias P, 2015, Empirical definition of social types in the analysis of inequality of opportunity: a latent classes approach, Social Choice and Welfare, Vol: 44, Pages: 673-701, ISSN: 0176-1714
Jones AM, Roemer JE, Rosa Dias P, 2014, Equalising opportunities in health through educational policy, Social Choice and Welfare, Vol: 43, Pages: 521-545, ISSN: 0176-1714
Despite the growing prominence of theoretical analysis of inequality of opportunity over the past twenty years, empirical work towards the normative evaluation of real-world policies has been minimal. This paper seeks to address this issue. It proposes a normative framework to model the influence of educational policy on health outcomes, grounded in Roemer’s model of equality of opportunity. We apply this model to the National Child Development Study cohort, who, since their schooling lay within the transition period of the comprehensive education reform in England and Wales, attended different types of secondary school. We use this reform in two ways: first, to evaluate the health outcomes of different educational policies under different normative principles; second, to simulate counterfactual distributions of health outcomes by neutralising the different channels through which early life circumstances influence health. Evidence on the comparative performance of the two educational systems is mixed, suggesting that the opportunity-enhancing effects of the comprehensive reform were, at best, modest in terms of adult health. For some of the health outcomes considered, this leads to a convergence between the policy recommendations made by the two ethical principles of equality of opportunity and utilitarianism, while for others, the two principles diverge in their evaluation.
Cordas da Rosa Dias J, 2014, Inequality in Health, Encyclopedia of Health Economics, Editors: Culyer, Publisher: Elsevier, ISBN: 9780123756787
Cordas da Rosa Dias J, 2014, Inequality in health, Encyclopedia of Health Economics, Editors: Culyer, ISBN: 9780123756787
Dias PR, O'Donnell O, 2013, Health and Inequality, Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing, ISBN: 9781781905548
This volume contains methodological and empirical contributions from leading experts in health economics and economic inequality that add further momentum to a thriving field of research.
Jones AM, Rice N, Rosa Dias P, 2012, Quality of schooling and inequality of opportunity in health, Empirical Economics, Vol: 42, Pages: 369-394, ISSN: 0377-7332
Jones AM, Rice N, Rosa Dias P, 2011, Long-Term Effects of School Quality on Health and Lifestyle: Evidence from Comprehensive Schooling Reforms in England, Journal of Human Capital, Vol: 5, Pages: 342-376, ISSN: 1932-8575
Jones AM, Rice N, Robone S, et al., 2011, Inequality and polarisation in health systems’ responsiveness: A cross-country analysis, Journal of Health Economics, Vol: 30, Pages: 616-625, ISSN: 0167-6296
Rosa Dias P, 2010, Modelling opportunity in health under partial observability of circumstances, Health Economics, Vol: 19, Pages: 252-264, ISSN: 1057-9230
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This paper proposes a behavioural model of inequality of opportunity in health that integrates John Roemer's framework of inequality of opportunity with the Grossman model of health capital and demand for health. The model generates a recursive system of equations for health and lifestyles, which is then jointly estimated by full information maximum likelihood with freely correlated error terms. The analysis innovates by accounting for the presence of unobserved heterogeneity, therefore addressing the partial‐circumstance problem, and by extending the examination of inequality of opportunity to health outcomes other than self‐assessed health, such as long‐standing illness, disability and mental health. The results provide evidence for the existence of third factors that simultaneously influence health outcomes and lifestyle choices, supporting the empirical relevance of the partial‐circumstance problem. Accounting for these factors, the paper corroborates that the effect of parental and early circumstances on adult health disparities is paramount. However, the particular set of circumstances that affect each of the analysed health outcomes differs substantially. The results also show that differences in educational opportunities, and in social development in childhood, are crucial determinants of lifestyles in adulthood, which, in turn, shape the observed health inequalities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.</jats:p>
Rosa Dias P, 2009, Inequality of opportunity in health: evidence from a UK cohort study., Health Econ, Vol: 18, Pages: 1057-1074
This paper proposes an empirical implementation of the concept of inequality of opportunity in health and applies this to data from the UK National Child Development Study. Drawing on the distinction between circumstance and effort variables in John Roemer's work on equality of opportunity, circumstances are proxied by parental socio-economic status and childhood health; effort is proxied by health-related lifestyles and educational attainment. Stochastic dominance tests are used to detect inequality of opportunity in the conditional distributions of self-assessed health in adulthood. Two alternative approaches are used to measure inequality of opportunity. Econometric models are estimated to illuminate and quantify the triangular relationship between circumstances, effort and health. The results indicate the existence of a considerable and persistent inequality of opportunity in health. Circumstances affect health in adulthood both directly and through effort factors such as educational attainment. This indicates that, while the influence of some unjust circumstances can only be tackled during childhood, the implementation of complementary educational policies may be of paramount importance.
Rosa Dias P, Jones AM, 2007, Giving equality of opportunity a fair innings, Health Economics, Vol: 16, Pages: 109-112, ISSN: 1057-9230
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