IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/shs/wpaper/1407.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Children of Drought: Rainfall Shocks and Early Child Health in Rural India

Author

Listed:
  • Santosh Kumar

    (Department of Economics and International Business, Sam Houston State University)

  • Ramona Molitor

    (University of Passau)

  • Sebastian Vollmer

    (University of Gottingen)

Abstract

Barker's fetal origins hypothesis suggests a strong relationship between in utero conditions, health, and overall child development after birth. Using a nationally representative population survey, this paper analyzes the impact of rainfall on early child health in rural India. We find that drought experienced in utero has detrimental effects on the nutritional status of children. Effects appear to be stronger for boys, low caste children, and children exposed to drought in the first trimester of the mother's pregnancy. Results are robust to alternative definitions of drought. Our estimates speculate that policies aimed at reducing vulnerability to negative rainfall shock may result into improved health and higher human capital accumulation in rain-dependent agrarian countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Santosh Kumar & Ramona Molitor & Sebastian Vollmer, 2014. "Children of Drought: Rainfall Shocks and Early Child Health in Rural India," Working Papers 1407, Sam Houston State University, Department of Economics and International Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:shs:wpaper:1407
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.shsu.edu/academics/economics-and-international-business/documents/wp_series/wp14-07_paper.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rocha, Rudi & Soares, Rodrigo R., 2015. "Water scarcity and birth outcomes in the Brazilian semiarid," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 72-91.
    2. Petia Topalova, 2010. "Factor Immobility and Regional Impacts of Trade Liberalization: Evidence on Poverty from India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 1-41, October.
    3. Des Gasper, 2009. "Human Development," Chapters, in: Jan Peil & Irene van Staveren (ed.), Handbook of Economics and Ethics, chapter 31, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Gilles Postel-Vinay & Timothy M. Watts, 2007. "Long Run Health Impacts of Income Shocks: Wine and Phylloxera in 19th Century France," NBER Working Papers 12895, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Sharon Maccini & Dean Yang, 2009. "Under the Weather: Health, Schooling, and Economic Consequences of Early-Life Rainfall," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 1006-1026, June.
    6. Manisha Shah & Bryce Millett Steinberg, 2017. "Drought of Opportunities: Contemporaneous and Long-Term Impacts of Rainfall Shocks on Human Capital," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(2), pages 527-561.
    7. Douglas Almond & Lena Edlund & Mårten Palme, 2009. "Chernobyl's Subclinical Legacy: Prenatal Exposure to Radioactive Fallout and School Outcomes in Sweden," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1729-1772.
    8. Akresh, Richard & Lucchetti, Leonardo & Thirumurthy, Harsha, 2012. "Wars and child health: Evidence from the Eritrean–Ethiopian conflict," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 330-340.
    9. Burgess, Simon & Wilson, Deborah & Worth, Jack, 2013. "A natural experiment in school accountability: The impact of school performance information on pupil progress," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 57-67.
    10. Erica Field & Omar Robles & Maximo Torero, 2009. "Iodine Deficiency and Schooling Attainment in Tanzania," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 140-169, October.
    11. Douglas Almond, 2006. "Is the 1918 Influenza Pandemic Over? Long-Term Effects of In Utero Influenza Exposure in the Post-1940 U.S. Population," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(4), pages 672-712, August.
    12. Lin, Ming-Jen & Liu, Elaine M., 2014. "Does in utero exposure to Illness matter? The 1918 influenza epidemic in Taiwan as a natural experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 152-163.
    13. Lee, Chulhee, 2014. "In utero exposure to the Korean War and its long-term effects on socioeconomic and health outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 76-93.
    14. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Gilles Postel-Vinay & Tim Watts, 2010. "Long-Run Health Impacts of Income Shocks: Wine and Phylloxera in Nineteenth-Century France," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 714-728, November.
    15. Janet Currie, 2009. "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 87-122, March.
    16. Hoyt Bleakley, 2009. "Economic Effects of Childhood Exposure to Tropical Disease," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 218-223, May.
    17. Kaivan Munshi & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2005. "Why is Mobility in India so Low? Social Insurance, Inequality, and Growth," CID Working Papers 121, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    18. Sailesh Tiwari & Hanan G. Jacoby & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2017. "Monsoon Babies: Rainfall Shocks and Child Nutrition in Nepal," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 167-188.
    19. Futoshi Yamauchi, 2012. "Prenatal Seasonality, Child Growth, and Schooling Investments: Evidence from Rural Indonesia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(9), pages 1323-1341, September.
    20. Mark M. Pitt, 1997. "Estimating the Determinants of Child Health When Fertility and Mortality Are Selective," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(1), pages 129-158.
    21. Neelsen, Sven & Stratmann, Thomas, 2011. "Effects of prenatal and early life malnutrition: Evidence from the Greek famine," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 479-488, May.
    22. Robert Jensen, 2000. "Agricultural Volatility and Investments in Children," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 399-404, May.
    23. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    24. 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.
    25. Pepper, John V., 2002. "Robust inferences from random clustered samples: an application using data from the panel study of income dynamics," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 341-345, May.
    26. Maximilian Auffhammer & V. Ramanathan & Jeffrey Vincent, 2012. "Climate change, the monsoon, and rice yield in India," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 411-424, March.
    27. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-338, May.
    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. Josephat J. Hongoli & Youjin Hahn, 2023. "Early life exposure to cold weather shocks and growth stunting: Evidence from Tanzania," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2855-2879, December.
    2. Chang, Grace & Favara, Marta & Novella, Rafael, 2022. "The origins of cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills: The long-term effect of in-utero rainfall shocks in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    3. Barron, Manuel, 2022. "Moving down the energy ladder: In-utero temperature and fuel choice in adulthood," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Mulmi, Prajula & Block, Steven A. & Shively, Gerald E. & Masters, William A., 2016. "Climatic conditions and child height: Sex-specific vulnerability and the protective effects of sanitation and food markets in Nepal," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 63-75.
    5. Fitz, Dylan & League, Riley, 2020. "The impact of early-life shocks on adult welfare in Brazil: Questions of measurement and timing," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    6. Freudenreich, Hanna & Aladysheva, Anastasia & Brück, Tilman, 2022. "Weather shocks across seasons and child health: Evidence from a panel study in the Kyrgyz Republic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    7. World Bank [WB], 2016. "High and Dry : Climate Change, Water, and the Economy," Working Papers id:10736, eSocialSciences.
    8. Carpena, Fenella, 2019. "How do droughts impact household food consumption and nutritional intake? A study of rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 349-369.
    9. Beuermann, Diether W. & Pecha, Camilo J., 2020. "The effects of weather shocks on early childhood development: Evidence from 25 years of tropical storms in Jamaica," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    10. Thiede, Brian C. & Gray, Clark, 2020. "Climate exposures and child undernutrition: Evidence from Indonesia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    11. Algur, Kisan Dilip & Patel, Surendra Kumar & Chauhan, Shekhar, 2021. "The impact of drought on the health and livelihoods of women and children in India: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    12. Hamid Reza Oskorouchi, 2019. "Learning to Fight: Afghan Child Health and In‐utero Exposure to Conflict," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(2), pages 275-300, June.
    13. Sandeep Kandikuppa & Clark Gray, 2022. "Climate change and household debt in rural India," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 1-27, August.
    14. Manuel Barron & Sam Heft-Neal & Tania Perez, 2018. "Long-term effects of weather during gestation on education and labor outcomes: Evidence from Peru," Working Papers 134, Peruvian Economic Association.
    15. Manuel Barron, 2018. "In-utero weather shocks and learning outcomes," Working Papers 137, Peruvian Economic Association.
    16. Beuermann, Diether & Pecha, Camilo & Schmid, Juan Pedro, 2017. "The Effects of Weather Shocks on Early Childhood Development," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8543, Inter-American Development Bank.

    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. Eskander, Shaikh M.S.U. & Barbier, Edward B., 2022. "Long-term impacts of the 1970 cyclone in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    2. Fitz, Dylan & League, Riley, 2020. "The impact of early-life shocks on adult welfare in Brazil: Questions of measurement and timing," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    3. Sylvain Dessy & Francesca Marchetta & Roland Pongou & Luca Tiberti, 2019. "Fertility response to climate shocks," CERDI Working papers halshs-02053100, HAL.
    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. Bratti, Massimiliano & Frimpong, Prince Boakye & Russo, Simone, 2021. "Prenatal Exposure to Heat Waves and Child Health in Sub-saharan Africa," IZA Discussion Papers 14424, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Chang, Grace & Favara, Marta & Novella, Rafael, 2022. "The origins of cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills: The long-term effect of in-utero rainfall shocks in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    7. Sylvain Dessy & Francesca Marchetta & Roland Pongou & Luca Tiberti, 2019. "Fertility after The Drought: Theory and Evidence from Madagascar," Cahiers de recherche 1901, Centre de recherche sur les risques, les enjeux économiques, et les politiques publiques.
    8. Minoiu, Camelia & Shemyakina, Olga N., 2014. "Armed conflict, household victimization, and child health in Côte d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 237-255.
    9. Dessy, Sylvain & Marchetta, Francesca & Pongou, Roland & Tiberti, Luca, 2020. "Climate Shocks and Teenage Fertility," GLO Discussion Paper Series 490, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Almond, Douglas & Currie, Janet, 2011. "Human Capital Development before Age Five," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 15, pages 1315-1486, Elsevier.
    11. Fitzsimons, Emla & Malde, Bansi & Mesnard, Alice & Vera-Hernández, Marcos, 2016. "Nutrition, information and household behavior: Experimental evidence from Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 113-126.
    12. Sivadasan, Jagadeesh & Xu, Wenjian, 2021. "Missing women in India: Gender-specific effects of early-life rainfall shocks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    13. 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).
    14. Shoji, Masahiro, 2020. "Early-Life Circumstances and Adult Locus of Control: Evidence from 46 Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 99987, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Richard Akresh & Sonia Bhalotra & Marinella Leone & Una Osili, 2023. "First- and Second-Generation Impacts of the Biafran War," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(2), pages 488-531.
    16. Valeria Groppo & Kati Kraehnert, 2017. "The impact of extreme weather events on education," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 433-472, April.
    17. Sulin Sardoschau, 2019. "Children of War: In-Utero Stress and Child Health in Iraq," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02383137, HAL.
    18. Gabriella Conti, 2013. "The Developmental Origins of Health Inequality," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Health and Inequality, volume 21, pages 285-309, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    19. Ball, Alastair, 2014. "Air pollution, foetal mortality, and long-term health: Evidence from the Great London Smog," MPRA Paper 63229, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 25 Mar 2015.
    20. Andalón, Mabel & Azevedo, João Pedro & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos & Sanfelice, Viviane & Valderrama-González, Daniel, 2016. "Weather Shocks and Health at Birth in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 69-82.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • 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:shs:wpaper:1407. 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: Christian Raschke (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deshsus.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.