_Adult deaths._ We investigate the impact of prime-aged (15-50) adult deaths in the household in the past - within 0-3 months, 4-6 months and 7-9 months before the interview -and in the future - 0-3 , 4-6 and 7-9 months following the interview. The collection of dummy variables representing deaths in the past will be denoted as 'lags' and those representing future deaths as 'leads' . About 4.4% of the respondents in the cross-section had an adult death in the 9 months _before_ the interview and 3.4 % had an adult death in the 9 months _after_ the interview. In contrast, fewer than 1% of the elderly had lost their spouse in the 6 months before the interview. To allow for a different impact for poor and non-poor households, in one specification we interact the 'leads' and 'lags' of adult deaths with the value of durable goods per adult household member.

_Household assets._ We use three measures of household assets as a measure of wealth: the quality of housing (whether the dwelling has other than a dirt floor), the amount of land owned by the household, and the value of the household's durable goods (radios, bicycles, TVs, etc) in 1000 Tanzanian shillings (Tsh) per adult household member.'<sup>2</sup> About 14% of the elderly lived in a dwelling with a non-dirt floor and the average respondent lived in a household that owned about _5_ hectares of land. The mean value of assets per adult in the wave 2 cross-section is 10,228 Tsh or about US$30. About half of the elderly (56%) lived in households with no reported durable goods. We also include a dummy variable equal to one if the head owns the dwelling. This variable would reflect both decision-making power in the household. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents owned their dwelling.

**_Lndividual characteristics._** These include sex, age, whether the respondent had any formal schooling, and whether he/she is widowed. About 53% of respondents were female and the average age was 64 years. Only about a quarter (23%) of elderly women had any education, while 79% of elderly men had some schooling and about a third (31%) had completed 5 years or more. More than half of the elderly women (53%) were widows and only a third (35%) were currently married, while 80% of elderly men were currently married and only 14% were widowers. We also include the number of living children of each elderly person, which can be considered a proxy for the extent of his or her economic safety net. Women had an average of 4.5 living children and men had an average of 8.7.

_Household_ **_composition._** The number of prime-aged adults is a proxy for the supply of adult time in economic activities, including home production and child care. The number of children under 7 is a proxy for the demand for the respondent's time in providing child care.

1 1 The death 'leads' are censored by the end of the survey - that is, for the last interview we do not know about future deaths, and for the next to the last interview, we do not know about deaths in 7-9 month's time. We include control variables for the censoring of future deaths due to attrition or the end of the survey.

12 The KHDS collected household expenditure data, which could be used as a proxy for household 'permanent income' or well-being. However, it would also include spending on inputs to health such as food or medical care, which are endogenous inputs into the health of the elderly. We use an exchange rate of 337 Tsh/$US.