Economics

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    Determinants of household credit demand in Zambia.
    (2013-11-15) Wabei, Silumbu
    There is a serious lack of empirical evidence on household credit demand in Zambia. This has led to an information gap in terms of evidence-based policy that would aid policy makers in the formulation of possible policy intervention to help stimulate and sustain household credit. Therefore, this dissertation attempts to partially fulfill this gap by analyzing the determinants of household credit demand in Zambia. Using a sample size of 20,000 households from the Living Conditions Monitoring Survey (LCMS) V of 2006, a probit model was used to predict the probability of borrowing due to the binary nature of the dependent variable. In addition, a subsequent tobit procedure was implemented to take into account the potential selectivity bias that arises due to the non-random choice of borrowing households. The total amount of borrowing per household, taken as a proxy of credit demand, is the dependent variable. Various important explanatory variables that influence credit demand were regressed against total borrowing. The explanatory variables include the size of the household, gender, age, education, total household expenditure, remittances received and residence. The discrete choice models that control for potential endogeneity and selectivity bias showed that all the explanatory variables were significant correlates of credit demand. These results reveal that the likelihood of credit demand will be higher with an increase in the size of the household, age and education. Furthermore, remittances received and residence in an urban area also increases the probability of borrowing. On the other hand, the probability of borrowing declines when a household is headed by a female or has low levels of expenditure. Based on these results, it is recommended that policy makers promote basic infrastructure for financial sector development in rural areas and focus on education policy that will enhance employment opportunities and individuals’ future income. They should also form credit schemes for the elderly and implement policies that are gender sensitive to gender inequalities in the financial market.
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    Factors determining voluntary health insurance ownership in Zambia.
    (The University of Zambia, 2019) Kaunda, Bevan
    In Zambia, the majority of people seek health care from public health facilities but evidence suggests that the poor still incur high out-of-pocket payments for health. Despite the government's efforts to provide free primary health care, health spending for secondary health care is still high, and this disproportionately affects the poor. In order to protect households from catastrophic health payments at the point of seeking care and to increase access to health services, the government intends to introduce the National Health Insurance to complement the existing voluntary health insurance. Currently, only 3.9 per cent of households have some form of health insurance in Zambia, and this is done on voluntary basis. Although several studies have been conducted in both developing and developed countries, there is limited evidence in the Zambian context on what determines health insurance ownership. This paper examines the factors that determine voluntary health insurance ownership in Zambia. Specifically, the paper establishes the socio-economic factors, demographic factors, and health status that are associated with ownership of health insurance. The study uses data from the 2014 Zambia Household Health Expenditure and Utilization Survey, which is nationally representative. We estimate a probit regression model to identify the factors associated with health insurance ownership. The results show that the level of education, employment status, region of residence, marital status, household size, and household expenditure are significantly associated with health insurance ownership in Zambia. Education, marital status and employment status were found to significantly increase the probability of owning health insurance. Moreover, study findings revealed that households that spend relatively more on goods and services were more likely to own health insurance. However, those households with relatively bigger family size and those residing in rural areas were less likely to own health insurance. The study further established that gender, age, and health status did not significantly determine health insurance ownership in Zambia. As the Zambian government introduces the national health insurance, policies that improve educational attainment and employment creation are likely to have an influence on the health insurance coverage, particularly in the context of a large informal sector.
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    Policy options on Zambia's economic problems.
    (Mission Press, 2015) Pollen, Gabriel