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Lack of Food Access and Double Catastrophe in Early Life: Lessons from the 1974–1975 Bangladesh Famine

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  • Shabnam, Nourin
  • Guven, Cahit
  • Ulubasoglu, Mehmet

Abstract

We study the education outcomes of the 1974–1975 Bangladesh famine on early-life survivors using the 1991 Bangladesh microcensus data. We find that famine adversely affected the survivor children in areas that experienced higher rice prices relative to labour wage. In addition, children living in wealthy households in famine-stricken areas had better education outcomes than children with no famine exposure at all. We also find that, surprisingly, exposure to double catastrophe (i.e., concurrent famine and flood) in early life had weaker effects than exposure to single catastrophe. We show that disaster-alleviation mechanisms worked better in districts affected by double disasters.

Suggested Citation

  • Shabnam, Nourin & Guven, Cahit & Ulubasoglu, Mehmet, 2021. "Lack of Food Access and Double Catastrophe in Early Life: Lessons from the 1974–1975 Bangladesh Famine," MPRA Paper 109653, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:109653
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    The 1974–1975 Bangladesh Famine; Food Access; Early Life Malnutrition; Education Outcomes; Double Catastrophe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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