Ataya: HUMA Interdisciplinary Seminar Series

Speaker: Fabio Andres Diaz Pabon, University of Cape Town

Paper ►

Bio: Fabio Andres Diaz Pabon is a Research Fellow on Sustainable Development and the African Agenda 2063, hosted by the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research (ACEIR), University of Cape Town. His research tackles the intersection between theory and practice, with a focus on politics, development, economics and inequality. He is an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. In addition to his scholarly publications, Fabio’s writings have been featured in Al Jazeera, Mail & Guardian, Time, The Conversation, and the Los Angeles Times, among others.

Topic: In this paper, we investigate the effects of the 2015/2016 drought on individual welfare and assess whether access to assets helps alleviate these negative impacts. To estimate the effects of droughts on individual welfare outcomes, we utilize weather data combined with individual panel data from the National Income Dynamics Study dataset. Meteorological satellite data are employed to gauge the extent of droughts across the country, while real per capita consumption expenditure serves as the measure for individual welfare. Our estimations reveal that the 2015/2016 drought did not have a significant effect on real per capita consumption expenditure in South Africa. We hypothesize that this could be attributed in part to the structure of the labour market, wherein few individuals rely on subsistence farming; and social grants and remittances constitute the primary income sources for those at the bottom of the consumption distribution. Using anthropometric measurements as an alternative welfare indicator, we observe that children residing in drought-affected areas exhibit lower weight-for-height measurements compared to those in unaffected areas. These findings suggest that households may have resorted to welfare-costly coping mechanisms, such as reducing the quantity and quality of food consumed, while maintaining overall expenditure levels, particularly when faced with increased food prices due to the drought.

How Ataya works: One presenter and their work – in exchange with the audience. Each Ataya session engages with selected work by the presenter (a text, artwork, performance, even food). The presenter introduces their work and grounds the subsequent discussion with the participants. For best engagement, we recommend participants to view the work (made available in advance on our website) before the session. More on the Ataya Series

Refreshments will be served at 12:30 SAST (GMT+2).

Register to attend: send us an email at huma@uct.ac.za

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