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The child education and health ethnic inequality consequences of climate shocks in Vietnam

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  • Pham, Trinh

Abstract

This paper provides a new explanation for ethnic disparities in education and health in Vietnam by studying the relationship between frequent, small-scale adverse rainfall shocks and child human capital. Exploiting plausibly random year-to-year variation in weather data that are linked to a longitudinal household- and individual-level dataset over the period 2008–2017, I find that excess rainfall during the annual typhoon season results in lower child subjective health status and school enrollment, with disproportionate effects on children of ethnic minorities. The negative lagged effects on education are concentrated in children at primary school start age, suggesting delaying children’s school entry is a shock–coping strategy for poor ethnic minority households, albeit with potentially big negative long-run effect on their child lifetime earnings. Estimates suggest that rainfall shocks can explain approximately 28% of the observed ethnic gap in enrollment rates of children age 16–18 in the sample during the study period, and most is due to heterogeneous effects of rainfall shocks among ethnic groups, not differences in exposure to rainfall shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Pham, Trinh, 2022. "The child education and health ethnic inequality consequences of climate shocks in Vietnam," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:90:y:2022:i:c:s027277572200084x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2022.102311
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    Cited by:

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    2. Barnor, Kodjo & Kafle, Kashi, 2025. "Dry weather, empty desks? Rainfall Shocks and Child Education in Tanzania," 2025 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2025, Denver, CO 361160, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Cong Minh Huynh & Bao Khuyen Tran, 2024. "Climate change, poverty and child health inequality: evidence from Vietnam’s provincial analysis," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 1-25, October.
    4. Kóczán, Zs., 2024. "Lasting scars: The long-term effects of school closures on earnings," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    5. Palacios, Paola & Rojas-Velásquez, Libardo, 2023. "Impact of weather shocks on educational outcomes in the municipalities of Colombia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    6. Thanh, Pham Tien & Tram, Nguyen Hoang Mai & Tung, Le Thanh, 2024. "Educational inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam: Implications for disadvantaged children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    7. Pham, Trinh, 2023. "Climate change and intersectoral labor reallocation in the presence of labor market frictions," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335724, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
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    9. Khalid, Nazar & Behrman, Jere R. & Hannum, Emily & Thapa, Amrit, 2025. "Floods, community infrastructure, and children’s heterogeneous learning losses in rural India," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Rodrigo Pérez-Silva & Mayarí Castillo & Chiara Cazzuffi, 2023. "Droughts and Local Labor Markets. Studying Heterogenous Effects on Women and Indigenous People in Chile," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 281-302, July.
    11. Sadou Diallo, 2026. "Lasting Effects of Early Climate Shocks on Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Sub-Saharan African Households," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 38(1), pages 49-80, February.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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