IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pid/journl/v59y2020i2p275-300.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender Gaps in Child Nutritional Status in Punjab, Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Theresa Thompson Chaudhry

    (Department of Economics, Lahore School of Economics, Lahore.)

  • Maha Khan

    (Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York, UK.)

  • Azka Sarosh Mir

    (Center for Research in Economics and Business, Lahore School of Economics, Lahore)

Abstract

Child nutritional status has improved over the period 2008 to 2014 in Punjab, Pakistan's largest province with a population of over 100 million, as rates of severe stunting have declined by 8.6 percentage points and average height-for-age (HFA) has increased by 0.19 standard deviations. However, the nutritional status of children in Punjab is still quite poor in comparison to many Sub-Saharan African countries. Recent research from India suggests eldest son preference and son-biased fertility stopping patterns negatively impacts the nutritional status of other children in the household, especially daughters. In order to test for latent gender discrimination in Punjab, Pakistan, a culturally similar neighbour, we apply a finite mixture model to a sample of couples with at least one child of each gender, though we do not find any. We do find, however, that when there is a larger share of children without an elder brother, that is, there is no son or a son is born after several daughters, that the incidence of stunting is higher and average HFA z-score of a couple’s children is lower, using an OLS analysis. This suggests that some families might be increasing their fertility beyond the number of children they can support in pursuit of sons. In this way, couples’ preferences regarding the gender composition of their children can have subsequent effects on the longterm nutritional status of their children.

Suggested Citation

  • Theresa Thompson Chaudhry & Maha Khan & Azka Sarosh Mir, 2020. "Gender Gaps in Child Nutritional Status in Punjab, Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 275-300.
    • Handle: RePEc:pid:journl:v:59:y:2020:i:2:p:275-300
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://pide.org.pk/pdfpdr/2020/275-300.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Morduch, Jonathan J. & Stern, Hal S., 1997. "Using mixture models to detect sex bias in health outcomes in Bangladesh," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 259-276, March.
    2. Rana Ejaz Ali Khan, 2008. "Gender Analysis of Children’s Activities in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 169-195.
    3. G. M. Arif & Shujaat Farooq & Saman Nazir & Maryam Satti, 2014. "Child Malnutrition and Poverty: The Case of Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 53(2), pages 99-118.
    4. Osmani, Siddiq & Sen, Amartya, 2003. "The hidden penalties of gender inequality: fetal origins of ill-health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 105-121, January.
    5. Deb, Partha & Trivedi, Pravin K., 2002. "The structure of demand for health care: latent class versus two-part models," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 601-625, July.
    6. Deb, Partha & Gallo, William T. & Ayyagari, Padmaja & Fletcher, Jason M. & Sindelar, Jody L., 2011. "The effect of job loss on overweight and drinking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 317-327, March.
    7. Vinod Mishra & T. K. Roy & Robert D. Retherford, 2004. "Sex Differentials in Childhood Feeding, Health Care, and Nutritional Status in India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 269-295, June.
    8. Batool Zaidi & S. Philip Morgan, 2016. "In the Pursuit of Sons: Additional Births or Sex-Selective Abortion in Pakistan?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 42(4), pages 693-710, December.
    9. Silvia Helena Barcellos & Leandro S. Carvalho & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2014. "Child Gender and Parental Investments in India: Are Boys and Girls Treated Differently?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 157-189, January.
    10. Diane Dancer & Anu Rammohan & Murray D. Smith, 2008. "Infant mortality and child nutrition in Bangladesh," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(9), pages 1015-1035, September.
    11. Conway, Karen Smith & Deb, Partha, 2005. "Is prenatal care really ineffective? Or, is the 'devil' in the distribution?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 489-513, May.
    12. Seema Jayachandran & Rohini Pande, 2017. "Why Are Indian Children So Short? The Role of Birth Order and Son Preference," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(9), pages 2600-2629, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Theresa Thompson Chaudhry & Maha Khan & Azka Sarosh Mir, 2021. "Son‐biased fertility stopping, birth spacing, and child nutritional status in Pakistan," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 712-736, May.
    2. Rasmane Ouedraogo & Windemanegda Sandrine Sourouema & Hamidou Sawadogo, 2021. "Aid, growth and institutions in Sub‐Saharan Africa: New insights using a multiple growth regime approach," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 107-142, January.
    3. Liu, Yiwei & Su, Yuting & Yin, Yuru, 2022. "Parental preference for boys in childhood and the health of the elderly: Evidence from China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    4. Paolo Li Donni & Ranjeeta Thomas, 2020. "Latent class models for multiple ordered categorical health data: testing violation of the local independence assumption," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1903-1931, October.
    5. Ouédraogo, Rasmané & Sawadogo, Relwendé & Sawadogo, Hamidou, 2020. "Private and public investment in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of instability risks," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(2).
    6. Harttgen, Kenneth & Lang, Stefan & Seiler, Johannes, 2019. "Selective mortality and the anthropometric status of children in low- and middle-income countries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 257-273.
    7. Ridhi Kashyap & Julia Behrman, 2020. "Gender Discrimination and Excess Female Under-5 Mortality in India: A New Perspective Using Mixed-Sex Twins," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2143-2167, December.
    8. Michele Giannola, 2022. "Parental investments and intra-household inequality in child human capital: evidence from a survey experiment," IFS Working Papers W22/54, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    9. Asiedu, Elizabeth & Azomahou, Théophile T. & Getachew, Yoseph & Yitbarek, Eleni, 2021. "Share the love: Parental bias, women empowerment and intergenerational mobility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 846-867.
    10. Fishman, Ezra & Kimhi, Ayal, 2013. "Is the Israeli Labor Market Segmented? Revisiting the Mixture Regression Model," Discussion Papers 164512, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    11. Padmaja Ayyagari & Partha Deb & Jason Fletcher & William Gallo & Jody L. Sindelar, 2013. "Understanding Heterogeneity In Price Elasticities In The Demand For Alcohol For Older Individuals," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 89-105, January.
    12. Jones, A.M, 2010. "Models For Health Care," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 10/01, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    13. Ella Sargsyan, 2022. "Violent Conflicts and Child Gender Preferences of Parents: Evidence from Nigeria," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp723, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    14. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Jane Greve, 2011. "Overweight and obesity and the utilization of primary care physicians," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(S1), pages 53-67, September.
    15. Prashant Bharadwaj & Leah K. Lakdawala, 2013. "Discrimination Begins in the Womb: Evidence of Sex-Selective Prenatal Investments," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(1), pages 71-113.
    16. Luojia Hu & Analía Schlosser, 2015. "Prenatal Sex Selection and Girls’ Well‐Being: Evidence from India," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(587), pages 1227-1261, September.
    17. Pallavi Panda, 2020. "Selective Mortality and Malnutrition in India," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 18(4), pages 861-890, December.
    18. Sarah Brown & William Greene & Mark Harris, 2020. "A novel approach to latent class modelling: identifying the various types of body mass index individuals," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(3), pages 983-1004, June.
    19. Spears, Dean & Coffey, Diane & Behrman, Jere R., 2022. "Endogenous inclusion in the Demographic and Health Survey anthropometric sample: Implications for studying height within households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    20. Lien, Hsien-Ming & Lu, Mingshan & Albert Ma, Ching-To & McGuire, Thomas G., 2010. "Progress and compliance in alcohol abuse treatment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 213-225, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pakistan; Height-for-Age; Gender; Finite Mixture Model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pid:journl:v:59:y:2020:i:2:p:275-300. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Khurram Iqbal (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/pideipk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.