IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/iuiwop/1448.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Aid and Child Health: Local Effects of Aid on Stunting in Malawi

Author

Listed:
  • Durevall, Dick

    (Department of Economics)

  • Isaksson, Ann-Sofie

    (Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg)

Abstract

Motivated by a recent setback in the fight against child malnutrition, this study explores whether aid projects help to reduce stunting, or impaired growth, among children in the local area. Focusing on Malawi, a country with very high stunting prevalence and for which we have access to geo-referenced data on aid projects from a broad range of donors, we geographically match spatial data on 778 aid project sites of 22 different donors with anthropometric and background data on 26,604 children under the age of 5. To identify the effect of aid, we rely on spatial and temporal variation in aid project coverage and survey rollout, coupled with variation in childbirth years in relation to project start. The empirical results consistently indicate a positive impact of early life aid exposure on child growth. The positive treatment effect materializes already for children born in the early project implementation phase and lasts for children born up to 3 years after project start and is seemingly driven primarily by multilateral aid and projects focusing on rural development, vulnerability, infrastructure, and education.

Suggested Citation

  • Durevall, Dick & Isaksson, Ann-Sofie, 2022. "Aid and Child Health: Local Effects of Aid on Stunting in Malawi," Working Paper Series 1448, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1448
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifn.se/wfiles/wp/wp1448.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Civelli, Andrea & Horowitz, Andrew & Teixeira, Arilton, 2018. "Foreign aid and growth: A Sp P-VAR analysis using satellite sub-national data for Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 50-67.
    2. Michael A. Clemens & Steven Radelet & Rikhil R. Bhavnani & Samuel Bazzi, 2012. "Counting Chickens when they Hatch: Timing and the Effects of Aid on Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(561), pages 590-617, June.
    3. Axel Dreher & Steffen Lohmann, 2015. "Aid and growth at the regional level," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 31(3-4), pages 420-446.
    4. Arndt, Channing & Jones, Sam & Tarp, Finn, 2015. "Assessing Foreign Aid’s Long-Run Contribution to Growth and Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 6-18.
    5. Tonny Odokonyero & Robert Marty & Tony Muhumuza & Alex T. Ijjo & Godfrey Owot Moses, 2018. "The impact of aid on health outcomes in Uganda," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 733-745, April.
    6. Mishra, Prachi & Newhouse, David, 2009. "Does health aid matter?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 855-872, July.
    7. Caitlin Brown & Martin Ravallion & Dominique van de Walle, 2019. "Most of Africa's Nutritionally Deprived Women and Children are Not Found in Poor Households," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(4), pages 631-644, October.
    8. David Fielding, 2011. "Health aid and governance in developing countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(7), pages 757-769, July.
    9. Emma Michelle Taylor & Rachel Hayman & Fay Crawford & Patricia Jeffery & James Smith, 2013. "The Impact of Official Development Aid on Maternal and Reproductive Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, February.
    10. Kotsadam, Andreas & Østby, Gudrun & Rustad, Siri Aas & Tollefsen, Andreas Forø & Urdal, Henrik, 2018. "Development aid and infant mortality. Micro-level evidence from Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 59-69.
    11. Didier Wayoro & Léonce Ndikumana, 2020. "Impact of development aid on infant mortality: Micro‐level evidence from Côte d'Ivoire," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 432-445, September.
    12. Suzanna I. Vidmar & Tim J. Cole & Huiqi Pan, 2013. "Standardizing anthropometric measures in children and adolescents with functions for egen: Update," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 13(2), pages 366-378, June.
    13. Simon Feeny & Bazoumana Ouattara, 2013. "The effects of health aid on child health promotion in developing countries: cross-country evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(7), pages 911-919, March.
    14. Marwa Farag & A. Nandakumar & Stanley Wallack & Dominic Hodgkin & Gary Gaumer & Can Erbil, 2013. "Health expenditures, health outcomes and the role of good governance," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 33-52, March.
    15. Karuna Gomanee & Sourafel Girma & Oliver Morrissey, 2005. "Aid, public spending and human welfare: evidence from quantile regressions," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 299-309.
    16. Grace Kumchulesi, 2018. "Persistence of Child Malnutrition in Malawi: Explanations from Demographic and Health Surveys," Journal of African Development, African Finance and Economic Association (AFEA), vol. 20(1), pages 69-75.
    17. Findley, Michael G. & Powell, Josh & Strandow, Daniel & Tanner, Jeff, 2011. "The Localized Geography of Foreign Aid: A New Dataset and Application to Violent Armed Conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 1995-2009.
    18. Urbain Thierry Yogo & Douzounet Mallaye, 2015. "Health Aid and Health Improvement in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Accounting for the Heterogeneity Between Stable States and Post‐Conflict States," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(7), pages 1178-1196, October.
    19. Daniel Chris Khomba & Alex Trew, 2022. "Aid and Local Growth in Malawi," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(8), pages 1478-1500, August.
    20. Pierre E. Biscaye & Travis W. Reynolds & C. Leigh Anderson, 2017. "Relative Effectiveness of Bilateral and Multilateral Aid on Development Outcomes," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1425-1447, November.
    21. Kosack, Stephen & Tobin, Jennifer, 2006. "Funding Self-Sustaining Development: The Role of Aid, FDI and Government in Economic Success," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(1), pages 205-243, January.
    22. Mary, Sebastien & Shaw, Kelsey & Colen, Liesbeth & Gomez y Paloma, Sergio, 2020. "Does agricultural aid reduce child stunting?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    23. Samuel Brazys & Johan A. Elkink & Gina Kelly, 2017. "Bad neighbors? How co-located Chinese and World Bank development projects impact local corruption in Tanzania," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 227-253, June.
    24. Lynda Pickbourn & Léonce Ndikumana, 2019. "Does Health Aid Reduce Infant and Child Mortality from Diarrhoea in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(10), pages 2212-2231, October.
    25. Iacus, Stefano M. & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2012. "Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, January.
    26. Wilson, Sven E., 2011. "Chasing Success: Health Sector Aid and Mortality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 2032-2043.
    27. Siri Aas Rustad & Elisabeth Lio Rosvold & Halvard Buhaug, 2020. "Development Aid, Drought, and Coping Capacity," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(8), pages 1578-1593, July.
    28. Suzanna Vidmar & John Carlin & Kylie Hesketh & Tim Cole, 2004. "Standardizing anthropometric measures in children and adolescents with new functions for egen," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(1), pages 50-55, March.
    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. Lisa Chauvet & Marin Ferry, 2023. "L’efficacité de l’aide : quelles évolutions de la littérature depuis deux décennies ? WP329," Working Papers hal-04141543, HAL.

    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. Didier Wayoro & Léonce Ndikumana, 2020. "Impact of development aid on infant mortality: Micro‐level evidence from Côte d'Ivoire," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 432-445, September.
    2. Didier Wayoro & Leonce Ndikumana, 2019. "Impact of Development aid on infant mortality : Micro-level evidence from Cote d’Ivoire," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2019-07, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    3. Ann-Sofie Isaksson & Dick Durevall, 2023. "Aid and institutions: Local effects of World Bank aid on perceived institutional quality in Africa," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 523-551, July.
    4. Kotsadam, Andreas & Østby, Gudrun & Rustad, Siri Aas & Tollefsen, Andreas Forø & Urdal, Henrik, 2018. "Development aid and infant mortality. Micro-level evidence from Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 59-69.
    5. Lanati, Mauro & Sanfilippo, Marco & Santi, Filippo, 2023. "Aid and internal migration in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    6. Tim Röthel, 2023. "Budget support to the health sector—The right choice for strong institutions? Evidence from panel data," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 735-770, May.
    7. Maame Esi Woode & Duncan Mortimer & Rohan Sweeney, 2021. "The impact of health sector‐wide approaches on aid effectiveness and infant mortality," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(5), pages 826-844, July.
    8. Dierk Herzer, 2019. "The long-run effect of aid on health: evidence from panel cointegration analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(12), pages 1319-1338, March.
    9. Mohammad Usama Toseef & Gail A Jensen & Wassim Tarraf, 2019. "How Effective Is Foreign Aid at Improving Health Outcomes in Recipient Countries?," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 47(4), pages 429-444, December.
    10. Munyanyi, Musharavati Ephraim & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa, 2022. "Foreign aid and energy poverty: Sub-national evidence from Senegal," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    11. Chris Doucouliagos & Jack Hennessy & Debdulal Mallick, 2021. "Health aid, governance and infant mortality," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 184(2), pages 761-783, April.
    12. Emmanuel Banchani & Liam Swiss, 2019. "The impact of foreign aid on maternal mortality," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-11, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Alia, Didier Y. & Wineman, Ayala Y. & Anderson, C. Leigh, 2020. "Development Assistance and Factor Markets In Nigeria: An Application of the Test of Agricultural Household Separability," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304474, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Juergen Bitzer & Erkan Goeren, 2018. "Foreign Aid and Subnational Development: A Grid Cell Analysis," Working Papers V-407-18, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2018.
    15. Pickbourn, Lynda & Caraher, Raymond & Ndikumana, Léonce, 2022. "Does project-level foreign aid increase access to improved water sources? Evidence from household panel data in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    16. Cruzatti C., John & Dreher, Axel & Matzat, Johannes, 2023. "Chinese aid and health at the country and local level," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    17. Knutsen, Tora & Kotsadam, Andreas, 2020. "The political economy of aid allocation: Aid and incumbency at the local level in Sub Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    18. Öhler, Hannes, 2017. "A micro-level analysis of the effects of aid fragmentation and aid alignment," IDOS Discussion Papers 7/2017, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    19. Lisa Chauvet & Marin Ferry, 2023. "L’efficacité de l’aide : quelles évolutions de la littérature depuis deux décennies ? WP329," Working Papers hal-04141543, HAL.
    20. BenYishay, Ariel & DiLorenzo, Matthew & Dolan, Carrie, 2022. "The economic efficiency of aid targeting," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Aid; Stunting; Malnutrition; Child health; Malawi; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hhs:iuiwop:1448. 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: Elisabeth Gustafsson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iuiiise.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.