Organising household consumption and occupational proportions

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the occupational status and entrepreneurship research in developing countries by proposing that there are implications for household consumption depending on the occupational status proportion of households. When the occupational proportion of the household changes, household consumption is affected. This effect also changes depending on what quantile level the household is in terms of household consumption. Design/methodology/approachThe paper makes use of OLS and quantile regressions to examine 6,919 Households comprising of 40,294 Individuals from the 2009 Nigerian Living Standards Measurement Survey. FindingsThe paper finds that there are implications for household consumption based on the proportion of individuals in each occupational category. The contributions of each employment proportion changes at different quantiles with self-employed individuals increasing household consumption at the lower quantiles but reducing household consumption at the upper quantiles. Crucially, having a higher proportion of unemployed individuals in the household is oftentimes better than having a higher proportion of self-employed individuals. Research limitations/implicationsThis paper offers new insights into how occupation proportion influences household consumption in developing countries. As a result, the household could seek to organize its members in such a way as to maximize combined household consumption since diverse occupational statuses contribute differently to the household consumption at different quantile levels. Practical implicationsThe proportion of employment statuses in the household has implications for household consumption and so the mix of employment in the household is important. The self-employed could also be involved in activities to enhance household consumption that are not captured by labour income. However, self-employment does not seem to always have a positive effect on household consumption and sometimes unemployment might be better. Originality/valueThe paper provides a new way to view the household as an organizing entity in terms of how it can allocate employment proportions to maximise household consumption.

Ethnic Poverty: Causes, Implications, and Solutions

“…However, it is often somewhat unclear if the employment and pay disparities that exist along ethnic lines are as a result of negative stereotypes (Ruhlandt et al 2020). Research from Asia also shows that ethnic minorities often earn less than the dominant ethnic group (Kabeer 2006), and similar results have been found in Africa (Olarewaju 2018).…”

Household consumption and labour participation in Nigeria: Survey-based evidence

“…The insecurity is contributing to low agricultural productivity, as well as affecting household consumption. Several other factors have also been found to affect household consumption, such as educational levels, location, earnings uncertainty, and more (Olarewaju, 2018). Dreze and Srinivasan (1997), as quoted in Olarewaju (2018), reported that in India households that are headed by a female are more likely to suffer from lower household consumption than those headed by a male.…”

“…The consumption unit of society has mostly been defined as a unit that acquires inputs for immediate and future consumption (Olarewaju, 2018). Households usually participate in the labour force to acquire the means of consumption of goods and services.…”

E‐transparency and government budgetary corruption: A social marketing and transformation case from Nigeria

“…Government budgetary corruption in Nigeria is a serious problem and a mechanism politicians and civil servants use in order to funnel public resources (Ogunyemi, 2017; Olarewaju, 2016). Some well‐known examples of budgetary corruption in Nigeria include the expenditure of billions of US dollars to resuscitate the power and transport sectors of the country but with very little to show for the vast sums expended (Okpala, 2012; Olarewaju, 2018). Extant research shows that the budgetary medium is currently used by Nigerian government officials and public officers to regularly misappropriate public funds (Ajibolade & Oboh, 2017; TransparencyInternational, 2019).…”