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Improvements in children’s health: Does inequality matter?

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  • David Sahn
  • Stephen Younger

Abstract

The literature on the contributions to poverty reduction of average improvements in living standards vs. distributional changes uses only one measure of well-being – income or expenditure. Given that poverty is defined by deprivation over different dimensions, we explore the role of average improvements and distributional changes in children’s health and nutrition using the height of young children as our measure of well-being. Similar to the income literature, we find that shifts in the mean level of heights, not changes in distribution, account for most improvements in heights. Unlike the literature on income inequality, however, there is a positive association between improvements in average heights and reduced dispersion of those heights. Copyright Springer 2005

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  • David Sahn & Stephen Younger, 2005. "Improvements in children’s health: Does inequality matter?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 3(2), pages 125-143, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jecinq:v:3:y:2005:i:2:p:125-143
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-005-4494-9
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    Cited by:

    1. David E. Sahn, 2012. "Health Inequality across Populations of Individuals," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 24(4), pages 316-326, December.
    2. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Sahn, David E. & Younger, Stephen D., 2011. "Partial multidimensional inequality orderings," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 225-238.
    3. Gilles Postel‐Vinay & David E. Sahn, 2010. "Explaining stunting in nineteenth‐century France," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(2), pages 315-334, May.
    4. David Sahn, 2009. "Weights on the rise: where and for whom?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 7(4), pages 351-370, December.
    5. Obert Pimhidzai, 2011. "The fate of Zimbabwe's children: Insights from changes in nutrition outcomes, 1999-2006," SALDRU Working Papers 67, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    6. Nie, Peng & Ding, Lanlin & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2019. "Obesity inequality and the changing shape of the bodyweight distribution in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    7. World Bank, 2013. "Burkina Faso : Non-Monetary Poverty and Gender Inequalities, 1993-2010 Trends," World Bank Publications - Reports 15992, The World Bank Group.
    8. repec:pra:mprapa:59643 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Millimet, Daniel & Wang, Le, 2005. "Is the Quantity-Quality Trade-off Really a Trade-off for All?," Departmental Working Papers 0502, Southern Methodist University, Department of Economics.
    10. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Leblanc, Josée & Sahn, David E., 2011. "Comparing population distributions from bin-aggregated sample data: An application to historical height data from France," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 419-437.
    11. David E. Sahn & Stephen D. Younger, 2009. "Measuring intra‐household health inequality: explorations using the body mass index," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S1), pages 13-36, April.
    12. Tasnim Khan & Rana Ejaz Ali Khan & Muhammad Ali Raza, 2015. "Gender Analysis of Malnutrition: A Case Study of School-Going Children in Bahawalpur," Asian Development Policy Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 3(2), pages 29-48, June.

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