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Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition

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  • Harold Alderman
  • John Hoddinott
  • Bill Kinsey

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of pre-school malnutrition on subsequent human capital formation in rural Zimbabwe using a maternal fixed effects--instrumental variables (MFE-IV) estimator with a long term panel data set. Representations of civil war and drought shocks are used to identify differences in pre-school nutritional status across siblings. Improvements in height-for-age in pre-schoolers are associated with increased height as a young adult and number of grades of schooling completed. Had the median pre-school child in this sample had the stature of a median child in a developed country, by adolescence, she would be 3.4 centimeters taller, had completed an additional 0.85 grades of schooling and would have commenced school six months earlier. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Harold Alderman & John Hoddinott & Bill Kinsey, 2006. "Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 450-474, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:58:y:2006:i:3:p:450-474
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    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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