Family Support and Rapid Social Change in South Africa

Investigators:   David Lam, James A. Levinsohn

Post-apartheid South Africa faces a combination of rapidly expanding opportunities for the non-white population and enormous challenges such as severe unemployment and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. For many poor households, resources flow into families primarily through the elderly via an extensive state old-age pension, while working-age adults and children are often net consumers of resources. This project brings together researchers from the U.S. and South Africa to analyze patterns of family support and intergenerational transfers in South Africa. It analyzes data from a number of sources, including national income and expenditure surveys, a national labor force panel, and a number of smaller regional surveys. It also uses data from specifically designed modules in the second wave of the Cape Area Panel Study, along with qualitative and quantitative work before and after the second wave.

Specific aims include the following: 1. Estimate expenditure regressions to test whether income from pensions or child grants has a different impact than other sources of income, and whether there is a differential effect of income transfers received by men versus women. 2. Estimate the impact of pensions, child grants, and other sources of income, and outcomes such as schooling and unemployment of young people, using both direct data on transfer income and using the strong age discontinuities in pension eligibility. 3. Use panel data from the South African Labour Force Survey to analyze transitions in unemployment, schooling, and household composition, and the impact of job loss on outcomes such as the schooling and labor supply of the other household members. 4. Use the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS) to analyze the effects of family disruption and recent negative household events on youth outcomes. 5. Develop, administer, and analyze a supplemental module on family support and intergenerational transfers for CAPS Wave 2.

Funding Period: 09/26/2003 to 11/30/2008

PSC Research Themes:

South Africa (Regional Studies)
Household Structure, Intergenerational Dynamics (Family Formation, Fertility, and Children)


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