IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fpr/fcnddp/79.html

Adult health in the time of drought

Author

Listed:
  • Hoddinott, John
  • Kinsey, Bill

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of rainfall shocks on a measure of adult health, body mass, drawing on a unique panel data set of households residing in rural Zimbabwe. Controlling for individual, household, and community factors, and individual fixed, unobservable effects, we find women, but not men, are adversely affected by drought. However, these effects are not borne equally by all women. Women residing in poor households and daughters more generally appear to bear the brunt of this shock. Our results suggest that an ex ante private coping strategy, the accumulation of livestock, protects women against the adverse consequences of this shock. By contrast, we find that ex post public responses are not effective, though for several reasons we treat this finding with caution.

Suggested Citation

  • Hoddinott, John & Kinsey, Bill, 2000. "Adult health in the time of drought," FCND discussion papers 79, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:fcnddp:79
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/dp79.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rosenzweig, Mark R. & Wolpin, Kenneth I., 1988. "Migration selectivity and the effects of public programs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 265-289, December.
    2. Alderman, Harold, et al, 1995. "Unitary versus Collective Models of the Household: Is It Time to Shift the Burden of Proof?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Hanan G. Jacoby & Emmanuel Skoufias, 1997. "Risk, Financial Markets, and Human Capital in a Developing Country," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(3), pages 311-335.
    4. Thomas, Duncan & Lavy, Victor & Strauss, John, 1996. "Public policy and anthropometric outcomes in the Cote d'Ivoire," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 155-192, August.
    5. Morduch, Jonathan, 1999. "Between the State and the Market: Can Informal Insurance Patch the Safety Net?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 14(2), pages 187-207, August.
    6. Elaina Rose, 1999. "Consumption Smoothing and Excess Female Mortality in Rural India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(1), pages 41-49, February.
    7. Pitt, Mark M & Rosenzweig, Mark R & Hassan, Md Nazmul, 1990. "Productivity, Health, and Inequality in the Intrahousehold Distribution of Food in Low-Income Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1139-1156, December.
    8. Paul A. Higgins & Harold Alderman, 1997. "Labor and Women's Nutrition: The Impact of Work Effort and Fertility on Nutritional Status in Ghana," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(3), pages 577-595.
    9. Kinsey, Bill & Burger, Kees & Gunning, Jan Willem, 1998. "Coping with drought in Zimbabwe: Survey evidence on responses of rural households to risk," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 89-110, January.
    10. Strauss, John & Thomas, Duncan, 1995. "Human resources: Empirical modeling of household and family decisions," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 1883-2023, Elsevier.
    11. repec:bla:obuest:v:63:y:2001:i:4:p:409-36 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Deaton, Angus, 1992. "Understanding Consumption," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288244.
    13. Jonathan Morduch, 1995. "Income Smoothing and Consumption Smoothing," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 103-114, Summer.
    14. Udry, Christopher, 1990. "Credit Markets in Northern Nigeria: Credit as Insurance in a Rural Economy," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 4(3), pages 251-269, September.
    15. Fafchamps, Marcel & Udry, Christopher & Czukas, Katherine, 1998. "Drought and saving in West Africa: are livestock a buffer stock?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 273-305, April.
    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


    Cited by:

    1. Owens, Trudy & Hoddinott, John & Kinsey, Bill, 2003. "Ex-Ante Actions and Ex-Post Public Responses to Drought Shocks: Evidence and Simulations from Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1239-1255, July.
    2. Miguel Nino-Zarazua, 2011. "Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades and the emergence of Social Assistance in Latin America," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 14211, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    3. Calogero Carletto, 2000. "Nontraditional crops and land accumulation among Guatemalan smallholders," FCND briefs 80, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Fatma El-Hamidi & Ragui Assaad & Ahmed Akhter, 2000. "The Determinants of Employment Status in Egypt," Working Paper 269, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Sep 2006.
    5. Ana Maria Oviedo & Harry Moroz, 2013. "A Review of the Ex Post and Ex Ante Impacts of Risk," World Bank Publications - Reports 16333, The World Bank Group.
    6. Stefan Dercon & John Hoddinott, 2003. "Health, Shocks and Poverty Persistence," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2003-08, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Goli, Imaneh & Azadi, Hossein & Najafabadi, Maryam Omidi & Lashgarara, Farhad & Viira, Ants-Hannes & Kurban, Alishir & Sklenička, Petr & Janečková, Kristina & Witlox, Frank, 2023. "Are adaptation strategies to climate change gender neutral? Lessons learned from paddy farmers in Northern Iran," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Alina Kalle & Miriam Muller, 2024. "If Children Aren’t Full, Can Adults Eat?," World Bank Publications - Reports 42272, The World Bank Group.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. World Bank, 2001. "Risk Management in South Asia : A Poverty Focused Approach," World Bank Publications - Reports 15449, The World Bank Group.
    2. Jeffrey A. Flory, 2011. "Micro-Savings & Informal Insurance in Villages: How Financial Deepening Affects Safety Nets of the Poor, A Natural Field Experiment," Working Papers 2011-008, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    3. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2859-2939 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Stefan Dercon, 2002. "Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 141-166, September.
    5. Flory, Jeffrey A., "undated". "Formal Savings Spillovers on Microenterprise Growth and Production Decisions Among Non-Savers in Villages: Evidence from a Field Experiment," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 125013, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Mansuri, Ghazala, 2006. "Migration,sex bias, and child growth in rural Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3946, The World Bank.
    7. Jorge H. Maldonado & RocÔøΩo del Pilar Moreno-SÔøΩnchez & romoreno@uniandes.edu.co, 2010. "Estrategias de suavizaci√≥n del consumo y del ingreso de las madres beneficiarias del programa Familias en Acci√≥n: un an√°lisis cualitativo," Documentos CEDE 7609, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    8. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2007. "The Economic Lives of the Poor," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 141-168, Winter.
    9. Jin, Ling & Chen, Kevin Z. & Yu, Bingxin & Filipski, Mateusz, 2015. "Farmers' Coping Strategies against an Aggregate Shock: Evidence from the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211814, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Kazianga, Harounan, 2012. "Income Risk and Household Schooling Decisions in Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1647-1662.
    11. Md. Shafiul Azam & Katsushi S. Imai, 2012. "Measuring Households' Vulnerability to Idiosyncratic and Covariate Shocks – the case of Bangladesh," Discussion Paper Series DP2012-02, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    12. Beegle, Kathleen & Dehejia, Rajeev H. & Gatti, Roberta, 2006. "Child labor and agricultural shocks," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 80-96, October.
    13. Islam, Asadul & Maitra, Pushkar, 2012. "Health shocks and consumption smoothing in rural households: Does microcredit have a role to play?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 232-243.
    14. Kazianga, Harounan & Udry, Christopher, 2006. "Consumption smoothing? Livestock, insurance and drought in rural Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 413-446, April.
    15. Czura, Kristina & Klonner, Stefan, 2023. "Financial market responses to a natural disaster: Evidence from credit networks and the Indian Ocean tsunami," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    16. Emmanuel Skoufias, 2012. "The Poverty and Welfare Impacts of Climate Change Quantifying the Effects, Identifying the Adaptation Strategies," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 9384, April.
    17. Sawada, Yasuyuki & Takasaki, Yoshito, 2017. "Natural Disaster, Poverty, and Development: An Introduction," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 2-15.
    18. repec:qeh:qehwps:qehwps148 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Kristina Czura & Stefan Klonner, 2018. "Financial Market Responses to a Natural Disaster: Evidence from Local Credit Networks and the Indian Ocean Tsunami," CESifo Working Paper Series 7354, CESifo.
    20. Stefan Dercon, 0. "Fate and Fear: Risk and Its Consequences in Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 17(suppl_2), pages -127.
    21. Anoshua Chaudhuri, 2005. "Direct and Indirect Effects of a Maternal and Child Health Program in Rural Bangladesh," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 21(1-2), pages 143-173, June.
    22. Ibáñez, Ana María & Moya, Andrés, 2010. "Vulnerability of Victims of Civil Conflicts: Empirical Evidence for the Displaced Population in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 647-663, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fpr:fcnddp:79. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifprius.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.