are disadvantaged.<sup>3</sup> Case et al. (2004) use cross-section data; using household fixed effects, they find that orphans are disadvantaged relative to other children within the same household. However, it is not clear that a household fixed-effects approach is satisfactory. If orphans are strategically placed in better-off households within the extended family, then the orphans in a household fixed-effects framework are compared to a non-random sample of non-orphan co-residents. It is then not shown that orphanhood reduces schooling, but rather that orphans are placed with better-off relatives.<sup>4</sup> For instance, in their study of orphanhood in Zimbabwe, Nyamukapa and Gregson (2005) describe the system of childcare arrangements as traditionally based in part on both relatives’ relationships with the orphan and their ability to assist. They further note that orphan care arrangements are increasingly being influenced by financial considerations.

Evidence of other outcomes for orphans beyond schooling is much more scant but here, too, the evidence is mixed (see for example Chatterji et al., 2005). In one of the few studies which is able to identify actual cause of death of parents, Crampin et al. (2003) examine health of children in Malawi on linked with information on the HIV/AIDS status of parents measured 10 years prior.<sup>5</sup> They conclude that surviving children are not discriminated against as a result of parents having been ill or having died from HIV/AIDS. Another study of cross-sectional data finds that the health status of surviving orphans younger than 6 years is similar to their non-orphan counterparts in western Kenya (Lindblade et al., 2003).

The studies cited above use cross-sectional datasets which are limited to examining correlates of outcomes after a parental death, without controls for initial conditions, prior to the death of the parent(s). These studies only identify who is an orphan and not how recently a parent died or the status of the child prior to being orphaned. Depending on mortality patterns of adults, there could be omitted variables which bias results. Several recent studies utilize panel data available to address these concerns.

Using a panel survey from Tanzania covering 1991-94 (the baseline for this study, described in Section 3 below), Ainsworth et al _._ (2005) find that adult deaths are associated with delayed enrollment among younger children (7-10 years). Among orphans, younger maternal orphans are held back whereas

> 3 Even conclusions from the same data sets can differ depending on how data from countries are combined. Bicego et al _._ (2003) combine Demographic and Health Survey household data across countries for West Africa and East Africa whereas Ainsworth and Filmer (2006) do not merge data sets across countries. In West Africa, Bicego et al _._ find evidence of a significant impact of among paternal orphans (6-14 years) and two-parent orphans (6-10 years). For East Africa, the findings are significant among maternal and two-parent orphans ages 11-14 years.

> 4 Gertler et al. (2004) address problems of nonrandom selection into orphanhood (i.e. the death of a parent being correlated with other disadvantages but not caused by the event of losing a parent) using propensity score matching techniques. However, this matching is done between orphans and non-orphans based on characteristics of current residence which may itself be endogenous. Information on residence prior to orphanhood may be more appropriate but is not available to them.

> 5 Of the 2,250 offspring identified from the 593 individuals for whom the HIV/AIDS status at baseline is known, Crampin et al _._ were able to trace 1,141. Of these, 761 offspring were alive and interviewed, 167 were alive but left the district and not traced, and 213 were deceased. It is unclear what the implications of this sample selection are on the measured impacts.

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