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Does Women’s Empowerment Reduce Prevalence of Stunted and Underweight Children in Rural India?

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  • Katsushi Imai
  • Samuel Kobina Annim
  • Raghav Gaiha
  • Veena S. Kulkarni

Abstract

This study investigates whether mother's empowerment as measured by her bargaining power relative to father's affects children's nutritional status using the three rounds of NFHS data in India. First, the relative educational attainment of mothers significantly contributes to z scores pertaining to the short-term measures of nutritional status of children. Besides, the quantile regression results show strong associations between women's bargaining power and better nutritional status of children in terms of the long-term measure of nutrition at the low end of its conditional distribution. Finally, we find the relation between access to health schemes and better nutritional measures of children.
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  • Katsushi Imai & Samuel Kobina Annim & Raghav Gaiha & Veena S. Kulkarni, 2012. "Does Women’s Empowerment Reduce Prevalence of Stunted and Underweight Children in Rural India?," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1209, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    • Handle: RePEc:man:sespap:1209
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    Cited by:

    1. You, Jing, 2013. "The role of microcredit in older children’s nutrition: Quasi-experimental evidence from rural China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 167-179.
    2. Swarna Sadasivam Vepa & Vinodhini Umashankar & R.V. Bhavani & Rohit Parasar, 2014. "Agriculture and Child Under-Nutrition in India: A State Level Analysis," Working Papers 2014-086, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    3. Samuel Kobina Annim & Katsushi S. Imai, 2014. "Nutritional Status of Children, Food Consumption Diversity and Ethnicity in Lao PDR," Discussion Paper Series DP2014-17, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    4. Katsushi S. Imai & Takahiro Sato, 2014. "Recent Changes in Micro-Level Determinants of Fertility in India: Evidence from National Family Health Survey Data," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 65-85, March.
    5. Raghbendra Jha & Katsushi S. Imai & Raghav Gaiha, 2014. "Poverty nutrition traps," Chapters, in: Raghbendra Jha & Raghav Gaiha & Anil B. Deolalikar (ed.), Handbook on Food, chapter 10, pages 246-259, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Kofinti, Raymond Elikplim & Koomson, Isaac & Paintsil, Jones Arkoh & Ameyaw, Edward Kwabena, 2022. "Reducing children's malnutrition by increasing mothers' health insurance coverage: A focus on stunting and underweight across 32 sub-Saharan African countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    7. Pratley, Pierre, 2016. "Associations between quantitative measures of women's empowerment and access to care and health status for mothers and their children: A systematic review of evidence from the developing world," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 119-131.
    8. Imai, Katsushi S. & Gaiha, Raghav & Thapa, Ganesh, 2015. "Does non-farm sector employment reduce rural poverty and vulnerability? Evidence from Vietnam and India," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 47-61.
    9. Katsushi S. Imai & Raghav Gaiha & Woojin Kang & Samuel Annim & Ganesh Thapa, 2012. "Does Risk Matter? A Semi-parametric Model for Educational Choices in the Presence of Uncertainty," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1226, Economics, The University of Manchester.

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    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality

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