Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Birth Spacing and Child Survival: Comparative Evidence from India and Pakistan

Contents:

Author Info

  • Pushkar Maitra

    (Monash University)

  • Sarmistha Pal

    (Brunel University)

Abstract

In view of higher fertility and mortality rates in Pakistan compared to India, this paper examines the two-way relationship between birth interval and child mortality and compares the behaviour of households in the Indian and Pakistani provinces of Punjab. Birth interval and child survival are modelled here as correlated hazard processes to address the bias generated by the simultaneity between spacing and survival. We find evidence of significant mutual dependence between birth interval and child survival in both samples. We also identify a close correspondence between birth interval and duration of breastfeeding and argue that the duration of breastfeeding is a good instrument of birth spacing in our samples. There are also interesting differences between Indian and Pakistani households with respect to effects of son preference and female literacy. We argue that part of these differences could be explained by differences in religion and state policies in these two neighbouring states.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://128.118.178.162/eps/lab/papers/0509/0509010.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Labor and Demography with number 0509010.

as in new window
Length: 60 pages
Date of creation: 27 Sep 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpla:0509010

Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 60. Revised version
Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://128.118.178.162

Related research

Keywords: Birth spacing; Child survival; Sibling competition and child replacement effects; Religion and state policy; Correlated hazards models; Simultaneity bias.;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References

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.:
as in new window
  1. Constantijn Panis, 1994. "The piecewise linear spline transformation," Stata Technical Bulletin, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(18).
  2. Lillard, L.A. & Panis, C.W.A., 1993. "Health Inputs and Child Mortality: Malaysia," Papers 93-03, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
  3. S. Philip Morgan & Sharon Stash & Herbert L. Smith & Karen Oppenheim Mason, 2002. "Muslim and Non-Muslim Differences in Female Autonomy and Fertility: Evidence from Four Asian Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 28(3), pages 515-537.
  4. Kenneth I. Wolpin & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2000. "Natural "Natural Experiments" in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(4), pages 827-874, December.
  5. Horton, Susan, 1988. "Birth Order and Child Nutritional Status: Evidence from the Philippines," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 341-54, January.
  6. Maitra, Pushkar & Pal, Sarmistha, 2007. "Early Childbirth, Health Inputs and Child Mortality: Recent Evidence from Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 2841, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  7. Becker, Gary S & Lewis, H Gregg, 1973. "On the Interaction between the Quantity and Quality of Children," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(2), pages S279-88, Part II, .
  8. Shireen J. Jejeebhoy & Zeba A. Sathar, 2001. "Women's Autonomy in India and Pakistan: The Influence of Religion and Region," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 687-712.
  9. Lillard, Lee A., 1993. "Simultaneous equations for hazards : Marriage duration and fertility timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1-2), pages 189-217, March.
  10. Lata Gangadharan & Pushkar Maitra, 2001. "The Effect of Education on the Timing of Marriage and First Birth in Pakistan," ASARC Working Papers 2001-04, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
  11. Behrman, Jere R & Knowles, James C, 1999. "Household Income and Child Schooling in Vietnam," World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 13(2), pages 211-56, May.
  12. Michael J. Brien & Lee A. Lillard, 1994. "Education, Marriage, and First Conception in Malaysia," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(4), pages 1167-1204.
  13. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Schultz, T Paul, 1982. "Market Opportunities, Genetic Endowments, and Intrafamily Resource Distribution: Child Survival in Rural India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(4), pages 803-15, September.
  14. William Parish & Robert J. Willis, . "Daughters, Education and Family Budgets: Taiwan Experiences," University of Chicago - Population Research Center 92-8a, Chicago - Population Research Center.
  15. Ashish Garg & Jonathan Morduch, 1998. "Sibling rivalry and the gender gap: Evidence from child health outcomes in Ghana," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 471-493.
  16. Michael J. Brien & Lee A. Hillard & Linda Waite, . "Cohabitation, Marriage, and Non-Fertility," University of Chicago - Population Research Center 97-5, Chicago - Population Research Center.
  17. Butcher, Kristin F & Case, Anne, 1994. "The Effect of Sibling Sex Composition on Women's Education and Earnings," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(3), pages 531-63, August.
  18. Pal, Sarmistha, 1999. "An Analysis of Childhood Malnutrition in Rural India: Role of Gender, Income and Other Household Characteristics," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1151-1171, July.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Bhalotra, Sonia & Soest, Arthur van, 2008. "Birth-spacing, fertility and neonatal mortality in India: Dynamics, frailty, and fecundity," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 274-290, April.
  2. Maitra, Pushkar & Pal, Sarmistha, 2007. "Early Childbirth, Health Inputs and Child Mortality: Recent Evidence from Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 2841, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpla:0509010

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (EconWPA).

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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