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Here Comes the Rain Again: Productivity Shocks, Educational Investments and Child Work

Author

Listed:
  • Christophe Jalil Nordman

    (IRD, UMR LEDa, DIAL, PSL, Université Paris Dauphine, IFP (Pondicherry, India))

  • Smriti Sharma

    (Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle Upon Tyne)

  • Naveen Sunder

    (Bentley University, Waltham, MA (USA))

Abstract

In predominantly agrarian economies with limited irrigation, rainfall plays a critical role in shaping households’ incomes and subsequently their spending decisions. This study uses household-level panel data from a nationally representative survey in India to estimate the effect of agricultural productivity shocks – as proxied by exogenous annual rainfall deviations from long-term average – on education expenditures and children’s work status in rural Indian households. Our results show that a transitory increase in rainfall significantly reduces education expenditures and increases the likelihood of child labor across a range of work activities. Additionally, we show that productivity-enhancing inputs such as land ownership and credit access do not mitigate these countercyclical effects of rainfall variations, indicating the importance of market imperfections (in labor and land markets). We also find that the effects of productivity shocks are reinforced for historically marginalized castes, and moderated for more educated households. These highlight that the average effects mask considerable heterogeneity based on household and regional characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Christophe Jalil Nordman & Smriti Sharma & Naveen Sunder, 2020. "Here Comes the Rain Again: Productivity Shocks, Educational Investments and Child Work," Working Papers DT/2020/05, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    • Handle: RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt202005
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    Cited by:

    1. Sen, Kritika & Villa, Kira M., 2022. "Rainfall shocks and adolescent school-work transition: Evidence from rural South Africa," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322383, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Shahla Akram & Mehboob Ul Hassan & Muhammad Farrukh Shahzad, 2024. "Factors Fuelling the Persistence of Child Labour: Evidence from Pakistan," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(4), pages 1771-1790, August.
    3. Chinh T. Mai & Akira Hibiki, 2023. "How Does Flood Affect Children Differently? The Impact of Flood on Children’s Education, Labor, Food Consumption, and Cognitive Development," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1211, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    4. Sharma, Smriti & Sunder, Naveen, 2025. "Crime and human capital in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    5. Sivadasan, Jagadeesh & Xu, Wenjian, 2021. "Missing women in India: Gender-specific effects of early-life rainfall shocks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    6. Sharma, Smriti & Sunder, Naveen, 2024. "Crime and Human Capital in India," IZA Discussion Papers 17037, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. 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.
    8. Pham, Trinh, 2022. "The child education and health ethnic inequality consequences of climate shocks in Vietnam," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    9. Yasmine Bekkouche & Kenneth Houngbedji & Oswald Koussihouede, 2022. "Rainy days and learning outcomes: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers DT/2022/07, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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