Health Shocks and Household Budgets: Income Elasticity and Consumption Smoothing in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This thesis examines the impact of health shocks on household budget decisions in order to better understand how the shock is being absorbed, and the effects of that shock on consumer behavior. This thesis will contribute to an established body of work regarding consumption and health expenditure by expanding the scope of existing empirical evidence, by analyzing household-level data in a region that lacks sufficient analysis: Sub-Saharan Africa.