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Stunting and Selection Effects of Famine: A Case Study of the Great Chinese Famine

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Author Info
Tue Gørgens () (Australian National University)
Xin Meng () (Australian National University and IZA)
Rhema Vaithianathan () (Rhema Vaithianathan)

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Abstract

The Great Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 is puzzling, since despite the high death rates, there is no discernable diminution in height amongst the majority of cohorts who were exposed to the famine in crucial growth years. An explanation is that shorter children experienced greater mortality and that this selection offset stunting. We disentangle stunting and selection effects of the Chinese famine, using the height of the children of the famine cohort. We find significant stunting of about 2cm for rural females and slightly less for rural males who experienced the famine in the first five years of life. Our results suggest that mortality bias implies that raw height is not always a good measure of economic conditions during childhood.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 2543.

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Length: 48 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2007
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2543

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Related research
Keywords: famine; height; China; panel data; GMM;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data
I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production
N95 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Asia including Middle East
O15 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Horton, Susan, 1986. "Child nutrition and family size in the Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 161-176, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Robert W. Fogel, 1994. "Economic Growth, Population Theory, and Physiology: The Bearing of Long-Term Processes on the Making of Economic Policy," NBER Working Papers 4638, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Chamberlain, Gary, 1982. "Multivariate regression models for panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 5-46, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Yaohui Zhao, 1999. "Leaving the Countryside: Rural-to-Urban Migration Decisions in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 281-286, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Micklewright, John & Ismail, Suraiya, 2001. "What Can Child Anthropometry Reveal about Living Standards and Public Policy? An Illustration from Central Asia," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(1), pages 65-80, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Gale Johnson, D., 1998. "China's great famine: Introductory remarks," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 103-109. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. T. Paul Schultz, 2002. "Wage Gains Associated with Height as a Form of Health Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 349-353, May. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Wei Li & Dennis Tao Yang, 2005. "The Great Leap Forward: Anatomy of a Central Planning Disaster," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(4), pages 840-877, August.
  11. Hoddinott, John & Kinsey, Bill, 2001. " Child Growth in the Time of Drought," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(4), pages 409-36, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Ashenfelter, Orley & Krueger, Alan B, 1994. "Estimates of the Economic Returns to Schooling from a New Sample of Twins," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1157-73, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. O'Rourke, Kevin, 1994. "The Economic Impact of the Famine in the Short and Long Run," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 309-13, May.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Mu, Ren & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2008. "Gender difference in the long-term impact of famine:," IFPRI discussion papers 760, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  2. Douglas Almond & Lena Edlund & Hongbin Li & Junsen Zhang, 2007. "Long-Term Effects Of The 1959-1961 China Famine: Mainland China and Hong Kong," NBER Working Papers 13384, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Douglas Almond & Lena Edlund & Hongbin Li & Junsen Zhang, 2008. "Long-Term Effects of Early-Life Development: Evidence from the 1959-1961 China Famine," NBER Chapters, in: The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia, NBER-EASE Volume 19 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  4. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2006. "Making Famine History," Working Papers 200610, School Of Economics, University College Dublin. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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