IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ucr/wpaper/201703.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Month of Birth and Child Height in 40 Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph Cummins

    (Department of Economics, University of California Riverside)

  • Neha Agarwal

    (University of California, Riverside)

  • Anaka Aiyar

    (Cornell University)

  • Arpita Bhattacharjee

    (University of California, Riverside)

  • Christian Gunadi

    (University of California, Riverside)

  • Deepak Singhania

    (University of California, Riverside)

  • Matthew Taylor

    (University of California, Riverside)

  • Evan Wigton-Jones

    (University of California, Riverside)

Abstract

Lokshin and Radyakin (2012) present evidence that month of birth affects child physical growth in India. We replicate these correlations using the same data and demonstrate that they are the result of spurious correlations between month of birth, age-at-measurement and child growth patterns in developing countries. We repeat the analysis on 39 additional countries and show that there is no evidence of seasonal birth effects in child height-for-age z-score in any country. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the Demographic and Health Survey data used to estimate the correlation is not suitable for the task due to a previously unrecognized source of measurement error in child month of birth. We document results from several papers that should be re-interpreted in light of this issue.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Cummins & Neha Agarwal & Anaka Aiyar & Arpita Bhattacharjee & Christian Gunadi & Deepak Singhania & Matthew Taylor & Evan Wigton-Jones, 2017. "Month of Birth and Child Height in 40 Countries," Working Papers 201703, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucr:wpaper:201703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://economics.ucr.edu/repec/ucr/wpaper/201703.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2017
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kasey S. Buckles & Daniel M. Hungerman, 2013. "Season of Birth and Later Outcomes: Old Questions, New Answers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 711-724, July.
    2. Michael Lokshin & Sergiy Radyakin, 2012. "Month of Birth and Children’s Health in India," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(1), pages 174-203.
    3. Brainerd, Elizabeth & Menon, Nidhiya, 2014. "Seasonal effects of water quality: The hidden costs of the Green Revolution to infant and child health in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 49-64.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Joseph Cummins, 2013. "On the Use and Misuse of Child Height-for-Age Z-score in the Demographic and Health Surveys," Working Papers 201417, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Brown,Caitlin Susan & Ravallion,Martin & Van De Walle,Dominique, 2017. "Are poor individuals mainly found in poor households ? evidence using nutrition data for Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8001, The World Bank.
    4. 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).
    5. Gupta, Aashish, 2020. "Seasonal variation in infant mortality in India," SocArXiv x4rv7, Center for Open Science.
    6. 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.
    7. Brown, Caitlin & Calvi, Rossella & Penglase, Jacob, 2021. "Sharing the pie: An analysis of undernutrition and individual consumption in Bangladesh," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    8. Bevis, Leah & Kim, Kichan & Guerena, David, 2023. "Soil zinc deficiency and child stunting: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Pushkar Maitra & Nidhiya Menon & Chau Tran, 2019. "The Winter’s Tale: Season of Birth Impacts on Children in China," Monash Economics Working Papers 09-18, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    4. Anna Folke Larsen & Derek Headey & William A. Masters, 2017. "Misreporting Month of Birth: Implications for nutrition research," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0821, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    5. 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.
    6. Miller, Ray, 2017. "Childhood Health and Prenatal Exposure to Seasonal Food Scarcity in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 350-376.
    7. Yamauchi, Futoshi & Higuchi, Katsuhiko & Suhaeti, Rita Nur, 2009. "Impacts of prenatal and environmental factors on child growth: Evidence from Indonesia," IFPRI discussion papers 933, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Michael Lokshin & Sergiy Radyakin, 2012. "Month of Birth and Children’s Health in India," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(1), pages 174-203.
    9. 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.
    10. 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).
    11. Schultz, T. Paul, 2010. "Population and Health Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4785-4881, Elsevier.
    12. 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).
    13. Gupta, Aashish, 2020. "Seasonal variation in infant mortality in India," SocArXiv x4rv7, Center for Open Science.
    14. Ahmed Hanifi, S.M. Manzoor & Menon, Nidhiya & Quisumbing, Agnes, 2022. "The impact of climate change on children's nutritional status in coastal Bangladesh," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    15. Fletcher, Jason & Noghanibehambari, Hamid, 2024. "The siren song of cicadas: Early-life pesticide exposure and later-life male mortality," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    16. Joseph Cummins, 2013. "On the Use and Misuse of Child Height-for-Age Z-score in the Demographic and Health Surveys," Working Papers 201417, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    17. Bharadwaj, Prashant & Fenske, James & Kala, Namrata & Mirza, Rinchan Ali, 2020. "The Green revolution and infant mortality in India," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    18. 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).
    19. Elliott Fan & Jin-Tan Liu & Yen-Chien Chen, 2017. "Is the Quarter of Birth Endogenous? New Evidence from Taiwan, the US, and Indonesia," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(6), pages 1087-1124, December.
    20. Darrouzet-Nardi, Amelia & Masters, William, 2015. "Nutrition smoothing: Can access to towns and cities protect children against poor health conditions at birth?," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211558, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    child health; month of birth; anthropometrics; Demographic & Health Survey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • 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:ucr:wpaper:201703. 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: Kelvin Mac (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deucrus.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.