Hope and Household Poverty in Tanzania: Does Intergenerational Transmission of Hope Matter?

• Author / Creator

  Begom, Tamanna

• Development economists increasingly recognize the significance of hope in poverty alleviation efforts. However, there is still a paucity of research examining the relationship between hope and household poverty, and in particular, the role of hope that is transmitted across generations. This study aims to address these knowledge gaps by investigating the relationship between hope and household poverty status by analyzing primary data from 2,816 rural households in Tanzania. The study encompasses two main objectives. Firstly, it seeks to identify the causal effect of hope levels on the poverty status of households. Using an instrumental variable regression model, the study reveals that a household’s higher level of hope significantly reduces the likelihood of a household being in poverty. Secondly, the study examines the transmission of hope across generations and its subsequent effect on household poverty. To address this objective, a nonparametric regression model is utilized to construct a mean hope curve for children, predicted based on their parents' hope levels. The findings show that the predicted hope level of a child increases as the parent's hope level rises within the household, although with significant nonlinearities in the transmission process. Relating the predicted hope level of the child to household poverty status, the study discovers that overall, a higher level of transmitted hope from parents to their children significantly reduces the likelihood of a household being in poverty. We conclude that hope matters for poverty, particularly when it is endogenously created within households by parents and transmitted to children may inoculate households against poverty to a significant extent. Overall, this research highlights the importance of enhancing individuals' hope levels as a means to alleviate poverty and provides valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners in this field.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Poverty
  • Hope
  • Intergenerational Transmission of Hope

• Graduation date

  Fall 2023

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-c2k1-tc18

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.