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Health, Nutrition and Academic Achievement: New Evidence from India

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  • Geeta Kingdon

Abstract

Using new and unique panel data, we investigate the role of long-term health and childhood malnutrition in schooling outcomes for children in rural India, many of whom lack basic numeracy and literacy skills. Using data on students’ performance on mathematics and Hindi tests, we examine the role of the endogeneity of health caused by omitted variables bias and measurement error and correct for these problems using a household fixed effects estimator on a sub-sample of siblings observed in the data. We also present several extensions and robustness checks using instrumental variables and alternative estimators. We find evidence of a positive causal effect of long-term health measured as height-for-age z-score (HAZ) on test scores, and the results are consistent across several different specifications. The results imply that improving childhood nutrition will have benefits that extend beyond health into education.

Suggested Citation

  • Geeta Kingdon, 2010. "Health, Nutrition and Academic Achievement: New Evidence from India," CSAE Working Paper Series 2010-14, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-14
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    File URL: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:2e8a7af5-ea9b-4a9a-86d8-a8e427826f18
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean Drèze & Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2001. "School Participation in Rural India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 1-24, February.
    2. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2007. "The progress of school education in India," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(2), pages 168-195, Summer.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cally Ardington & Megan Little, 2016. "The Impact of Maternal Death on Children's Health and Education Outcomes," SALDRU Working Papers 184, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    2. Spears, Dean, 2012. "Height and cognitive achievement among Indian children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 210-219.
    3. Hannum, Emily & Hu, Li-Chung, 2017. "Chronic undernutrition, short-term hunger, and student functioning in rural northwest China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 26-38.
    4. Ayllón, Sara & Ferreira-Batista, Natalia N., 2015. "‘Mommy, I miss daddy’. The effect of family structure on children's health in Brazil," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 75-89.
    5. Kumar, Deepak & Choudhury, Pradeep Kumar, 2021. "Do private schools really produce more learning than public schools in India? Accounting for student’s school absenteeism and the time spent on homework," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health; Nutrition; Schooling; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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