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Climatic conditions and child height: Sex-specific vulnerability and the protective effects of sanitation and food markets in Nepal

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  • Steven A. Block
  • William A. Masters
  • Prajula Mulmi
  • Gerald E. Shively

Abstract

Environmental conditions in early life have known links to later health outcomes, but mechanisms and potential remedies have been difficult to discern. This paper uses the Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of 2006-2011, combined with earlier NASA satellite observations of variation in vegetation density (NDVI) at each child's location and time of birth, to identify the trimesters of gestation and infancy during which climate variation can be linked to heights attained between 12 and 59 months of age. We find significant difference by sex of the fetus: males are most affected by conditions in their second trimester of gestation, and females in their first trimester after birth. Each 100 point difference in NDVI at those times is associated with a difference in height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) of 0.088 for boys and 0.054 for girls, an effect size that is similar to moving within the distribution of household wealth by one quintile for boys, and one decile for girls. The entire seasonal change in NDVI from peak to trough is on the order of 200-300 points, implying a seasonal effect of HAZ similar to 1-3 quintiles of household wealth. This effect is observed only in households without toilets; with toilets there is no seasonal fluctuation, implying protection against climatic changes in disease transmission. We also use data from the Nepal Living Standards Surveys on district-level agricultural production and marketing, and find a vegetation effect on child growth only in districts where households' food consumption comes primarily from own production. Robustness tests find no evidence of selection effects, and placebo regressions reveal no significant artefactual correlations. Our findings regarding timing and sex-specificity offer a novel population-scale confirmation of previous work, while the protective effect of sanitation and markets is a novel indication of the mechanisms by which households can gain resilience against adverse climatic conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven A. Block & William A. Masters & Prajula Mulmi & Gerald E. Shively, 2016. "Climatic conditions and child height: Sex-specific vulnerability and the protective effects of sanitation and food markets in Nepal," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0817, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    • Handle: RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0817
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    2. Larsen, Anna F. & Headey, Derek & Masters, William A., 2017. "Misreporting Month of Birth: Implications for Research on Nutrition and Early Childhood in Low-Income Countries," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258554, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Derek Headey & David Stifel & Liangzhi You & Zhe Guo, 2018. "Remoteness, urbanization, and child nutrition in sub‐Saharan Africa," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(6), pages 765-775, November.
    4. Debebe,Zelalem Yilma & Raju,Dhushyanth, 2020. "Covariate Shocks and Child Undernutrition : A Review of Evidence from Low- and Middle-Income Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9273, The World Bank.
    5. Finaret, A.B. & Miller, L.C. & Joshi, N. & Mahato, S. & Lohani, M. & Drozdowsky, J. & Rogers, B.L., 2018. "Longitudinal analysis of the intrahousehold distribution of foods in rural Nepal: Relative variability of child dietary quality across age and sex cohorts," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 101-110.
    6. Anna Folke Larsen & Derek Headey & William A. Masters, 2019. "Misreporting Month of Birth: Diagnosis and Implications for Research on Nutrition and Early Childhood in Developing Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(2), pages 707-728, April.
    7. Randell, Heather & Gray, Clark & Shayo, Elizabeth H., 2022. "Climatic conditions and household food security: Evidence from Tanzania," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    8. Bundervoet, Tom & Fransen, Sonja, 2018. "The educational impact of shocks in utero: Evidence from Rwanda," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 88-101.
    9. 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).
    10. Ruel, Marie T. & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Balagamwala, Mysbah, 2017. "Nutrition-sensitive agriculture: What have we learned and where do we go from here?:," IFPRI discussion papers 1681, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Agarwal, Neha & Aiyar, Anaka & Bhattacharjee, Arpita & Cummins, Joseph & Gunadi, Christian & Singhania, Deepak & Taylor, Matthew & Wigton-Jones, Evan, 2017. "Month of birth and child height in 40 countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 10-13.
    12. Finaret, Amelia B. & Masters, William A., 2020. "Can shorter mothers have taller children? Nutritional mobility, health equity and the intergenerational transmission of relative height," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    13. 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).
    14. S. Block & B. Haile & L. You & D. Headey, 2022. "Heat shocks, maize yields, and child height in Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(1), pages 93-109, February.
    15. Otterbach, Steffen & Rogan, Michael, 2017. "Spatial Differences in Stunting and Household Agricultural Production in South Africa: (Re-)Examining the Links Using National Panel Survey Data," IZA Discussion Papers 11008, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Derek Headey & Kalle Hirvonen & John Hoddinott & David Stifel, 2019. "Rural Food Markets and Child Nutrition," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 101(5), pages 1311-1327.
    17. Guimbeau, Amanda & Ji, Xinde James & Long, Zi & Menon, Nidhiya, 2024. "Ocean salinity, early-life health, and adaptation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    18. Miller, Ray, 2017. "Childhood Health and Prenatal Exposure to Seasonal Food Scarcity in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 350-376.
    19. Larsen, Anna Folke & Headey, Derek D. & Masters, William A., 2017. "Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research," IFPRI discussion papers 1617, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. Otterbach, Steffen & Rogan, Michael, 2017. "Spatial differences in stunting and household agricultural production in South African: (re-)examining the links using national panel survey data," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 13-2017, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    21. von der Goltz, Jan & Dar, Aaditya & Fishman, Ram & Mueller, Nathaniel D. & Barnwal, Prabhat & McCord, Gordon C., 2020. "Health Impacts of the Green Revolution: Evidence from 600,000 births across the Developing World," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    22. Tranchant, Jean-Pierre & Justino, Patricia & Müller, Cathérine, 2020. "Political violence, adverse shocks and child malnutrition: Empirical evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    23. Ogasawara, Kota, 2018. "The long-run effects of pandemic influenza on the development of children from elite backgrounds: Evidence from industrializing Japan," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 125-137.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sesonality; climate; health; agriculture; resilience;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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