IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp14627.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Impacts of Double-Fortified Salt on Anemia and Cognition: Four-Year Follow-up Evidence from a School-Based Nutrition Intervention in India

Author

Listed:
  • von Grafenstein, Liza

    (University of Göttingen)

  • Kumar, Abhijeet

    (University of Göttingen)

  • Kumar, Santosh

    (University of Notre Dame)

  • Vollmer, Sebastian

    (University of Goettingen)

Abstract

Long-term follow-up of early childhood health interventions is important for human capital accumulation. We provide experimental evidence on child health and human capital outcomes from the longer-term follow-up of a school-based nutrition intervention in India. Using panel data, we examine the effectiveness of the use of iron and iodine fortified salt in school lunches to reduce anemia among school children. After four years of treatment, treated children, on average, have higher hemoglobin levels and a lower likelihood of anemia relative to the control group. Interestingly, the intervention did not have any impact on cognitive and educational outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • von Grafenstein, Liza & Kumar, Abhijeet & Kumar, Santosh & Vollmer, Sebastian, 2021. "Impacts of Double-Fortified Salt on Anemia and Cognition: Four-Year Follow-up Evidence from a School-Based Nutrition Intervention in India," IZA Discussion Papers 14627, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14627
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp14627.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harold Alderman & John Hoddinott & Bill Kinsey, 2006. "Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 450-474, July.
    2. Adrien Bouguen & Yue Huang & Michael Kremer & Edward Miguel, 2018. "Using RCTs to Estimate Long-Run Impacts in Development Economics," NBER Working Papers 25356, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Janet Currie & Tom Vogl, 2013. "Early-Life Health and Adult Circumstance in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 1-36, May.
    4. Douglas Almond & Janet Currie & Valentina Duque, 2018. "Childhood Circumstances and Adult Outcomes: Act II," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1360-1446, December.
    5. Berry, James & Mehta, Saurabh & Mukherjee, Priya & Ruebeck, Hannah & Shastry, Gauri Kartini, 2020. "Implementation and effects of India's national school-based iron supplementation program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Dasgupta, Partha & Ray, Debraj, 1986. "Inequality as a Determinant of Malnutrition and Unemployment: Theory," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(384), pages 1011-1034, December.
    7. Banerjee, Abhijit & Barnhardt, Sharon & Duflo, Esther, 2018. "Can iron-fortified salt control anemia? Evidence from two experiments in rural Bihar," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 127-146.
    8. Alberto Chong & Isabelle Cohen & Erica Field & Eduardo Nakasone & Maximo Torero, 2016. "Iron Deficiency and Schooling Attainment in Peru," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 222-255, October.
    9. Li, Lili & Huang, Lei & Shi, Yaojiang & Luo, Renfu & Yang, Meredith & Rozelle, Scott, 2018. "Anemia and student's educational performance in rural Central China: Prevalence, correlates and impacts," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 283-293.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Krämer, Marion & Kumar, Santosh & Vollmer, Sebastian, 2021. "Anemia, diet, and cognitive development: Impact of health information on diet quality and child nutrition in rural India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 495-523.
    2. Huang, Qingyang & Liu, Chang & Zhou, Li-An, 2020. "Farewell to the God of Plague: Estimating the effects of China's Universal Salt Iodization on educational outcomes," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 20-36.
    3. Marion Krämer & Santosh Kumar & Sebastian Vollmer, "undated". "Anemia, diet, and cognitive development: Impact of health information on diet quality and child nutrition in rural India," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 265, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    4. Tafesse, Wiktoria, 2022. "The effect of Universal Salt Iodization on cognitive test scores in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    5. Mahmud, Mahreen & Riley, Emma, 2021. "Household response to an extreme shock: Evidence on the immediate impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on economic outcomes and well-being in rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Nicolas Berman & Lorenzo Rotunno & Roberta Ziparo, 2020. "Sweet child of mine: Parental income, child health and inequality," AMSE Working Papers 2005, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, revised Dec 2022.
    7. Lee, Wang-Sheng & Li, Ben G., 2021. "Extreme weather and mortality: Evidence from two millennia of Chinese elites," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    8. Pérez-Mesa, David & Marrero, Gustavo A. & Darias-Curvo, Sara, 2021. "Child health inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 108801, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Fernanda Marquez-Padilla & Francisco Perez-Arce & Carlos Rodriguez-Castelan, 2015. "The (Non-) Effect of Violence on Education Evidence from the "War on Drugs" in Mexico," Working Papers WR-1082, RAND Corporation.
    10. Par, Tial Len & Ten, Gi Khan & Lee, Ju-Ho, 2022. "Early-life exposure to earthquakes and its long-term effects on human capital outcomes: The case of Myanmar," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Aguilar, Arturo & Vicarelli, Marta, 2022. "El Niño and children: Medium-term effects of early-life weather shocks on cognitive and health outcomes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    12. Galasso, Emanuela & Wagstaff, Adam, 2019. "The aggregate income losses from childhood stunting and the returns to a nutrition intervention aimed at reducing stunting," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 225-238.
    13. Weldeegzie, Samuel G., 2017. "Growing-up Unfortunate: War and Human Capital in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 474-489.
    14. Martin Ravallion, 2013. "The Idea of Antipoverty Policy," NBER Working Papers 19210, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Kumar, Santosh & Nahlen, Bernard, 2023. "Intergenerational Persistence of Health: Evidence from India," IZA Discussion Papers 15938, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Sari, Emre & Moilanen, Mikko & Sommerseth, Hilde Leikny, 2021. "Transgenerational health effects of in utero exposure to economic hardship: Evidence from preindustrial Southern Norway," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    17. Berry, James & Mehta, Saurabh & Mukherjee, Priya & Ruebeck, Hannah & Shastry, Gauri Kartini, 2021. "Crowd-out in school-based health interventions: Evidence from India’s midday meals program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    18. Marion Krämer & Santosh Kumar & Sebastian Vollmer, 2018. "Improving Children Health and Cognition: Evidence from School-Based Nutrition Intervention in India," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 247, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    19. Lentz, Erin C. & Barrett, Christopher B., 2013. "The economics and nutritional impacts of food assistance policies and programs," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 151-163.
    20. Eskander, Shaikh M.S.U. & Barbier, Edward B., 2022. "Long-term impacts of the 1970 cyclone in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    anemia; children; double-fortified salt; cognition; mid-day meal; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    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:iza:izadps:dp14627. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.