The impact of household enterprise participation on household expenditures in Ugandan refugee hosting districts: a propensity score matched analysis

Abstract

Despite ongoing efforts to improve livelihoods in refugee-hosting communities, persistent economic vulnerability and limited access to essential goods and services highlight the shortcomings of traditional aid mechanisms in fostering sustainable resilience. This study aimed to assess the effect of household enterprise participation on household expenditure, specifically in the areas of healthcare, education, clothing, furniture, and kitchen utensils. The 2021 Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA) dataset, comprising 36,235 households, was used for this study. Using Propensity Score Matching, 16,034 households (8,017 in the intervention and 8,017 in the comparison group) were matched based on observed covariates, and the standardized mean difference (SMD) for all covariates was found to be below 0.1, indicating good balance between the groups. A conditional logit regression model was applied to estimate the effect of household enterprise participation on household expenditure. The results indicated that household enterprise participation significantly increased the likelihood of spending by 30.3% (95% CI: 1.181-1.437), and further sensitivity analysis using Rosenbaum’s bounds demonstrated the robustness of the findings, with the odds ratio remaining significant across various levels of unmeasured confounding. These findings suggest that household enterprise participation has a positive impact on household expenditure in refugee-hosting districts and may be a key factor in enhancing the economic well-being of refugee populations. Scaling up support for household enterprises in these areas may help improve household resilience and access to essential goods and services.

Subject Keywords: Household enterprise participation; household expenditures; Uganda; refugee hosting districts; propensity score matched analysis