Umakrishnan Kollamparambil
Biographic Data
| ID | 5605271 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Umakrishnan Kollamparambil |
| GIVEN NAMES | Umakrishnan |
| FAMILY NAME | Kollamparambil |
| SIGNATURE | KOLLAMPARAMBIL U |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6201-1923 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Household size and depressive symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic: A gendered analysis
The study explores the nature of the relationship between household size and depressive symptoms under COVID-19 strict lockdown conditions, when a surge in large-size households observed in South Africa. The study used nationally representative data to implement covariate balancing propensity scores within a multivalued treatment framework (by varying household size) to control for observables. While the study found that both solo living and larg…
Sex crime rate and female labour force participation in South Africa
South Africa's high violent crime rates and associated fears of victimisation are known to affect residents' everyday decision-making. Rape and sex crimes (which predominantly target women), compounded by social stigma and high HIV-contraction risks, thus plays an influencing factor in a woman's life. At the same time, South Africa's gender participation gap exceeds the Sub-Saharan African average. The first of its kind in the South African conte…
Health indicators and poor health dynamics during Covid-19 pandemic
Assessing the Income and Subjective Wellbeing Relationship Across Sub-national Developmental Contexts
Does Socioeconomic status mediate the relationship between income loss and depression scores? Evidence from South Africa
Family structure and household well-being: Evidence from South Africa
The interaction between family structure and household well-being has received considerable attention in research over the past decades. Very few studies, however, go beyond linking marital component of family structure with household income. This paper uses cross-sectional and panel analytic techniques with data from National Income Dynamic Survey (NIDS) to investigate the effects of family structure on household well-being. Findings from this s…
Effect of automation on unemployment: The case of Southern Africa
The increasing level of automation in the fourth industrial revolution has received a global interest in research and political landscape in recent years. While some research advances have been made in the developed world with regard to its implications for unemployment, next to no study has so far sought to establish if there is any statistical relationship between automation and unemployment in developing countries where unemployment is very hi…
Artificial intelligence and average wages in Southern Africa: A panel VAR approach
Changes in average wage are usually attributed to technological change in the past industrial revolutions. With the emergence and gradual explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) in the 4th industrial revolution, this paper applies panel vector autoregressive technique, with annual data from the World Bank and global economy from 2004 to 2017, to examine the effect of artificial intelligence on average wages in Southern Africa. Findings from the…
Mental and Physical Health Effect of Rural-Urban Migration in South Africa: A Quasi-Experimental Impact Evaluation Study
Using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) longitudinal dataset, this study undertakes a difference-in-differences (DiD) evaluation of the impact of rural-urban migration on mental and physical health in South Africa. The contribution of the study is in considering sample selection bias as well as the causal direction of the relationship through the use of propensity score matching techniques and restricted sample DiD estimation. This study …
Effect of religion on the risk behaviour of rural Ghanaian women: Evidence from a controlled field experiment
Religious doctrines may guide individual attitudes and preferences, including risk behaviour among others. We estimate the effect of religion on the willingness to take risk amongst 1209 rural women in Ghana, and observe that, whereas religious affiliation influences the decision to engage in risk, it does not in any way influence the level of risk taking thereafter. Specifically, we find that relative to the non-religious, religious affiliation …
Job loss and mental health during the Covid-19 lockdown: Evidence from South Africa
Objectives Existing literature on how employment loss affects depression has struggled to address potential endogeneity bias caused by reverse causality. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique natural experiment because the source of unemployment is very likely to be exogenous to the individual. This study assessed the effect of job loss and job furlough on the mental health of individuals in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data and met…
Subjective Wellbeing Inequality Between Cohabiting Partners: Does a Household Kuznets Curve Exist
Socio-Economic Inequality of Wellbeing: A Comparison of Switzerland and South Africa
Covid19 vaccine intentions in South Africa: Health communication strategy to address vaccine hesitancy
There are other significant differences across socio-economic and demographic variables in vaccine hesitancy. From a communication perspective, it is imperative to continue risk messaging, hand in hand with clearer information on the efficacy of the vaccines
Subjective wellbeing inequality in South Africa 2008–14: An unconditional quantile decomposition analysis
This study analyses the sources of reduction in subjective wellbeing (SWB) inequality in South Africa over the period 2008–14. The unconditional quantile regression decomposition of mean gap finds differences in the effect of covariates along the SWB distribution, underlining the relevance of going beyond mean-based decomposition. Fall in SWB inequality is due to the increased level of SWB on the left-hand side of the distribution and a reduced l…
Educational Homogamy, Positive Assortative Mating and Income Inequality in South Africa: An Unconditional Quantile Regression Analysis
Apart from being the first attempt at investigating the impact of education-based homogamy and positive assortative mating on income inequality in a developing country context with very high levels of inequality and low education levels, this study pioneers in analysing the nonlinear relationship between mating patterns and income inequality. Further, the study contributes by the use of unconditional quantile regression and other distributional m…
Piped Water Access, Child Health and the Complementary Role of Education: Panel Data Evidence from South Africa
This study establishes the causal impact of piped water access on child health in rural South Africa (2008–2015) through the use of a panel dataset and a quasi-experimental sample space. By employing an ordinal measure of child health as the dependent variable within linear fixed effects, logit, ordinal probit, and propensity-score matched linear as well as non-linear Difference-in-Difference, it is demonstrated that positive health benefits for …
Self‐Selection in Migration Between Developing Countries: The Role of Unobservable Skills of Gauteng's Migrant Population
The present study investigates the presence of self‐selection among internal and international migrants in Gauteng, South Africa and further disentangles the effects of observed and unobserved characteristics in the self‐selection of migrants by conducting Oaxaca‐Blinder decomposition on overall employment and self‐employment outcome variables. Our analysis, based on system‐ GMM analysis of pseudo‐panel data, indicates that international migrants…
Impact of Internal In-Migration on Income Inequality in Receiving Areas: A District Level Study of South Africa
The impact of internal migration on regional income inequality of the receiving areas has hitherto gone largely unstudied. This dearth of literature is especially surprising because income inequality and in-migration into urban centres of growth are two issues that many developing economies are faced with and tackling these issues effectively involves understanding the interactions between these two related phenomena. This study is therefore a fi…
The Impact of Rural-Urban Migration on Subjective Well-Being in South Africa
This paper quantifies the short to medium term impact of rural-urban migration on an individual’s subjective well-being in South Africa between 2008 and 2012. We work through different econometric specifications; using instrumental variables to control for endogeneity caused by shock-induced self-selection, and Propensity Score Matching to control for migration self-selection bias. We find that rural-urban migration leads to a decrease in subject…
Trends in Gender Wage Gap and Discrimination in South Africa: A Comparative Analysis across Races
This study investigates the existence of gender wage gaps across races in South Africa using dummy variables in the augmented Mincerian equation. Having found evidence of gender wage gap, the study then utilizes the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition technique to identify the proportion of the gap in wages that is attributable to pure discrimination between males and females. Lastly, the Juhn–Murphy–Pierce (JMP) method is used to understand the change …
Self‐Selection in Migration Between Developing Countries: The Role of Unobservable Skills of Gauteng's Migrant Population
The present study investigates the presence of self‐selection among internal and international migrants in Gauteng, South Africa and further disentangles the effects of observed and unobserved characteristics in the self‐selection of migrants by conducting Oaxaca‐Blinder decomposition on overall employment and self‐employment outcome variables. Our analysis, based on system‐ GMM analysis of pseudo‐panel data, indicates that international migrants…
Effect of religion on the risk behaviour of rural Ghanaian women: Evidence from a controlled field experiment
Religious doctrines may guide individual attitudes and preferences, including risk behaviour among others. We estimate the effect of religion on the willingness to take risk amongst 1209 rural women in Ghana, and observe that, whereas religious affiliation influences the decision to engage in risk, it does not in any way influence the level of risk taking thereafter. Specifically, we find that relative to the non-religious, religious affiliation …
The Impact of Rural-Urban Migration on Subjective Well-Being in South Africa
This paper quantifies the short to medium term impact of rural-urban migration on an individual’s subjective well-being in South Africa between 2008 and 2012. We work through different econometric specifications; using instrumental variables to control for endogeneity caused by shock-induced self-selection, and Propensity Score Matching to control for migration self-selection bias. We find that rural-urban migration leads to a decrease in subject…
Trends in Gender Wage Gap and Discrimination in South Africa: A Comparative Analysis across Races
This study investigates the existence of gender wage gaps across races in South Africa using dummy variables in the augmented Mincerian equation. Having found evidence of gender wage gap, the study then utilizes the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition technique to identify the proportion of the gap in wages that is attributable to pure discrimination between males and females. Lastly, the Juhn–Murphy–Pierce (JMP) method is used to understand the change …
Impact of Internal In-Migration on Income Inequality in Receiving Areas: A District Level Study of South Africa
The impact of internal migration on regional income inequality of the receiving areas has hitherto gone largely unstudied. This dearth of literature is especially surprising because income inequality and in-migration into urban centres of growth are two issues that many developing economies are faced with and tackling these issues effectively involves understanding the interactions between these two related phenomena. This study is therefore a fi…
Self‐Selection in Migration Between Developing Countries: The Role of Unobservable Skills of Gauteng's Migrant Population
The present study investigates the presence of self‐selection among internal and international migrants in Gauteng, South Africa and further disentangles the effects of observed and unobserved characteristics in the self‐selection of migrants by conducting Oaxaca‐Blinder decomposition on overall employment and self‐employment outcome variables. Our analysis, based on system‐ GMM analysis of pseudo‐panel data, indicates that international migrants…
Piped Water Access, Child Health and the Complementary Role of Education: Panel Data Evidence from South Africa
This study establishes the causal impact of piped water access on child health in rural South Africa (2008–2015) through the use of a panel dataset and a quasi-experimental sample space. By employing an ordinal measure of child health as the dependent variable within linear fixed effects, logit, ordinal probit, and propensity-score matched linear as well as non-linear Difference-in-Difference, it is demonstrated that positive health benefits for …
Subjective wellbeing inequality in South Africa 2008–14: An unconditional quantile decomposition analysis
This study analyses the sources of reduction in subjective wellbeing (SWB) inequality in South Africa over the period 2008–14. The unconditional quantile regression decomposition of mean gap finds differences in the effect of covariates along the SWB distribution, underlining the relevance of going beyond mean-based decomposition. Fall in SWB inequality is due to the increased level of SWB on the left-hand side of the distribution and a reduced l…
Educational Homogamy, Positive Assortative Mating and Income Inequality in South Africa: An Unconditional Quantile Regression Analysis
Apart from being the first attempt at investigating the impact of education-based homogamy and positive assortative mating on income inequality in a developing country context with very high levels of inequality and low education levels, this study pioneers in analysing the nonlinear relationship between mating patterns and income inequality. Further, the study contributes by the use of unconditional quantile regression and other distributional m…
Job loss and mental health during the Covid-19 lockdown: Evidence from South Africa
Objectives Existing literature on how employment loss affects depression has struggled to address potential endogeneity bias caused by reverse causality. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique natural experiment because the source of unemployment is very likely to be exogenous to the individual. This study assessed the effect of job loss and job furlough on the mental health of individuals in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data and met…
Subjective Wellbeing Inequality Between Cohabiting Partners: Does a Household Kuznets Curve Exist
Socio-Economic Inequality of Wellbeing: A Comparison of Switzerland and South Africa
Covid19 vaccine intentions in South Africa: Health communication strategy to address vaccine hesitancy
There are other significant differences across socio-economic and demographic variables in vaccine hesitancy. From a communication perspective, it is imperative to continue risk messaging, hand in hand with clearer information on the efficacy of the vaccines
Effect of automation on unemployment: The case of Southern Africa
The increasing level of automation in the fourth industrial revolution has received a global interest in research and political landscape in recent years. While some research advances have been made in the developed world with regard to its implications for unemployment, next to no study has so far sought to establish if there is any statistical relationship between automation and unemployment in developing countries where unemployment is very hi…
Artificial intelligence and average wages in Southern Africa: A panel VAR approach
Changes in average wage are usually attributed to technological change in the past industrial revolutions. With the emergence and gradual explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) in the 4th industrial revolution, this paper applies panel vector autoregressive technique, with annual data from the World Bank and global economy from 2004 to 2017, to examine the effect of artificial intelligence on average wages in Southern Africa. Findings from the…
Mental and Physical Health Effect of Rural-Urban Migration in South Africa: A Quasi-Experimental Impact Evaluation Study
Using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) longitudinal dataset, this study undertakes a difference-in-differences (DiD) evaluation of the impact of rural-urban migration on mental and physical health in South Africa. The contribution of the study is in considering sample selection bias as well as the causal direction of the relationship through the use of propensity score matching techniques and restricted sample DiD estimation. This study …
Effect of religion on the risk behaviour of rural Ghanaian women: Evidence from a controlled field experiment
Religious doctrines may guide individual attitudes and preferences, including risk behaviour among others. We estimate the effect of religion on the willingness to take risk amongst 1209 rural women in Ghana, and observe that, whereas religious affiliation influences the decision to engage in risk, it does not in any way influence the level of risk taking thereafter. Specifically, we find that relative to the non-religious, religious affiliation …
Assessing the Income and Subjective Wellbeing Relationship Across Sub-national Developmental Contexts
Does Socioeconomic status mediate the relationship between income loss and depression scores? Evidence from South Africa
Family structure and household well-being: Evidence from South Africa
The interaction between family structure and household well-being has received considerable attention in research over the past decades. Very few studies, however, go beyond linking marital component of family structure with household income. This paper uses cross-sectional and panel analytic techniques with data from National Income Dynamic Survey (NIDS) to investigate the effects of family structure on household well-being. Findings from this s…
Health indicators and poor health dynamics during Covid-19 pandemic
Household size and depressive symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic: A gendered analysis
The study explores the nature of the relationship between household size and depressive symptoms under COVID-19 strict lockdown conditions, when a surge in large-size households observed in South Africa. The study used nationally representative data to implement covariate balancing propensity scores within a multivalued treatment framework (by varying household size) to control for observables. While the study found that both solo living and larg…
Sex crime rate and female labour force participation in South Africa
South Africa's high violent crime rates and associated fears of victimisation are known to affect residents' everyday decision-making. Rape and sex crimes (which predominantly target women), compounded by social stigma and high HIV-contraction risks, thus plays an influencing factor in a woman's life. At the same time, South Africa's gender participation gap exceeds the Sub-Saharan African average. The first of its kind in the South African conte…
Economics (19 works) · Demographic economics (17 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Economic growth (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Econometrics (9 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · Inequality (7 works)