Open AccessDeterminants of Poverty of Households: Semi parametric Analysis of Demographic and Health Survey Data from Rwanda
Author(s) -
Faustin Habyarimana,
Shaun Ramroop
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of economics and behavioral studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2220-6140
DOI - 10.22610/jebs.v7i3(j).581
Subject(s) - poverty , residence , index (typography) , asset (computer security) , socioeconomics , nonparametric statistics , survey data collection , demographic economics , geography , economics , econometrics , economic growth , statistics , mathematics , computer security , world wide web , computer science
The main objective of this research is to identify the key determinants of poverty of household in Rwanda based on asset index and semi parametric modeling. The asset index for each household is established and thereafter the generalized additive mixed model is used to ascertain the key determinants of poverty of households in Rwanda. The semi parametric generalized additive mixed model allowed us to study the impact of nonlinear predictors as nonparametric and categorical predictors as parametric to the asset index. Using the Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (2010), the characteristics of households and household heads are considered. Our findings show that the level of education, gender and age of household head, region (province), size of the household (number of household members) and place of residence (urban or rural) are significant predictors of poverty of households in Rwanda.