IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/59776.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Life-Course Perspective on Gender Differences in Cognitive Functioning in India

Author

Listed:
  • Velamuri, Malathi
  • Onur, Ilke

Abstract

We examine gender differences in four measures of cognitive function among older individuals in India, using the 2010 pilot wave of the Longitudinal Aging Study of India (LASI) survey. We use a life-course approach and estimate the impact of circumstances in childhood, choices in adulthood and current circumstances on current cognitive functioning. Our objective is to understand the correlates of cognitive functioning in later-life more generally, and of female disadvantage in particular. We observe a female disadvantage across all cognitive measures in the raw data. Our estimates indicate that educational attainment and employment status history can account for the entire female disadvantage in verbal skills, but a sizable and significant gap remains in the other cognitive measures even after controlling for these variables. Notably, our estimates indicate that circumstances in childhood have an impact on later-life cognition. A decomposition analysis reveals that the predicted cognition gap is driven by differences in characteristics between men and women, as well as the asymmetric returns to these characteristics. We conclude that policies aimed at correcting the gender imbalance in educational outcomes may not be sufficient to close the gender gaps in cognition. In turn, this has serious implications for a rapidly aging society like India.

Suggested Citation

  • Velamuri, Malathi & Onur, Ilke, 2014. "A Life-Course Perspective on Gender Differences in Cognitive Functioning in India," MPRA Paper 59776, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:59776
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/59776/1/MPRA_paper_59776.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerard J. van den Berg & Pia R. Pinger & Johannes Schoch, 2016. "Instrumental Variable Estimation of the Causal Effect of Hunger Early in Life on Health Later in Life," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(591), pages 465-506, March.
    2. Isaac Ehrlich & Jinyoung Kim, 2007. "The Evolution of Income and Fertility Inequalities over the Course of Economic Development: A Human Capital Perspective," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 137-174.
    3. David de la Croix & Marie Vander Donckt, 2010. "Would Empowering Women Initiate the Demographic Transition in Least Developed Countries?," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(2), pages 85-129.
    4. repec:pri:cepsud:125krueger is not listed on IDEAS
    5. S. Mahendra Dev, 2008. "India," Chapters, in: Anis Chowdhury & Wahiduddin Mahmud (ed.), Handbook on the South Asian Economies, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. William L. Parish & Robert J. Willis, 1993. "Daughters, Education, and Family Budgets Taiwan Experiences," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(4), pages 863-898.
    7. Liliane Bonnal & Rachid Boumahdi & Pascal Favard, 2013. "The easiest way to estimate the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 96-101, January.
    8. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    9. Kathryn Yount, 2008. "Gender, resources across the life course, and cognitive functioning in Egypt," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(4), pages 907-926, November.
    10. Christina Paxson & Norbert Schady, 2007. "Cognitive Development among Young Children in Ecuador: The Roles of Wealth, Health, and Parenting," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(1).
    11. Kristin Mammen & Christina Paxson, 2000. "Women's Work and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 141-164, Fall.
    12. Cunha, Flavio & Heckman, James J. & Lochner, Lance, 2006. "Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 697-812, Elsevier.
    13. Alexandra Spitz-Oener, 2006. "Technical Change, Job Tasks, and Rising Educational Demands: Looking outside the Wage Structure," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(2), pages 235-270, April.
    14. Richard Layard & Andrew E. Clark & Francesca Cornaglia & Nattavudh Powdthavee & James Vernoit, 2014. "What Predicts a Successful Life? A Life‐course Model of Well‐being," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(580), pages 720-738, November.
    15. Ben Jann, 2008. "A Stata implementation of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition," ETH Zurich Sociology Working Papers 5, ETH Zurich, Chair of Sociology, revised 14 May 2008.
    16. Michael, Robert T, 1973. "Education in Nonmarket Production," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(2), pages 306-327, Part I, M.
    17. Ichino, Andrea & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 1999. "Lower and upper bounds of returns to schooling: An exercise in IV estimation with different instruments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4-6), pages 889-901, April.
    18. Sarmistha Pal & Robert Palacios, 2011. "Understanding Poverty among the Elderly in India: Implications for Social Pension Policy," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(7), pages 1017-1037.
    19. Silvia Helena Barcellos & Leandro S. Carvalho & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2014. "Child Gender and Parental Investments in India: Are Boys and Girls Treated Differently?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 157-189, January.
    20. Douglas Almond & Janet Currie, 2011. "Killing Me Softly: The Fetal Origins Hypothesis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(3), pages 153-172, Summer.
    21. Zhenmei Zhang, 2006. "Gender Differentials in Cognitive Impairment and Decline of the Oldest Old in China," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 61(2), pages 107-115.
    22. M. Niaz Asadullah & Uma Kambhampati & Florencia Lopez Boo, 2014. "Social divisions in school participation and attainment in India: 1983–2004," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 38(4), pages 869-893.
    23. James Banks & Fabrizio Mazzonna, 2012. "The Effect of Education on Old Age Cognitive Abilities: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(560), pages 418-448, May.
    24. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-1160, September.
    25. David Neumark, 1988. "Employers' Discriminatory Behavior and the Estimation of Wage Discrimination," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 23(3), pages 279-295.
    26. Harold Alderman & Jere R. Behrman & David R. Ross & Richard Sabot, 1996. "Decomposing the Gender Gap in Cognitive Skills in a Poor Rural Economy," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(1), pages 229-254.
    27. Zunzunegui, Maria-Victoria & Alvarado, Beatriz-Eugenia & Béland, François & Vissandjee, Bilkis, 2009. "Explaining health differences between men and women in later life: A cross-city comparison in Latin America and the Caribbean," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 235-242, January.
    28. Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Ransom, Michael R., 1994. "On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 5-21, March.
    29. Kesternich, Iris & Siflinger, Bettina M. & Smith, James P. & Winter, Joachim, 2013. "Individual Behavior as a Pathway between Early-Life Shocks and Adult Health: Evidence from Hunger Episodes in Post-War Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 7713, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    30. Maurer, Jürgen, 2010. "Height, education and later-life cognition in Latin America and the Caribbean," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 168-176, July.
    31. Gerard J. van den Berg & Maarten Lindeboom & France Portrait, 2006. "Economic Conditions Early in Life and Individual Mortality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 290-302, March.
    32. Zhenmei Zhang & Danan Gu & Mark D. Hayward, 2008. "Early Life Influences on Cognitive Impairment Among Oldest Old Chinese," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 63(1), pages 25-33.
    33. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/6ggbvnr6munghes9oc90kh192 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Jürgen Maurer, 2011. "Education and Male-Female Differences in Later-Life Cognition: International Evidence From Latin America and the Caribbean," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(3), pages 915-930, August.
    35. Rohini Pande, 2003. "Selective gender differences in childhood nutrition and immunization in rural India: The role of siblings," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(3), pages 395-418, August.
    36. Gabriele Doblhammer & Gerard J van den Berg & Thomas Fritze, 2013. "Economic Conditions at the Time of Birth and Cognitive Abilities Late in Life: Evidence from Ten European Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-12, September.
    37. Jinkook Lee & Regina Shih & Kevin Feeney & Kenneth M. Langa, 2014. "Gender Disparity in Late-life Cognitive Functioning in India: Findings From the Longitudinal Aging Study in India," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 69(4), pages 603-611.
    38. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6ggbvnr6munghes9oc90kh192 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger & David Schkade & Norbert Schwarz & Arthur A. Stone, 2006. "Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer? A Focusing Illusion," Working Papers 77, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    40. Vinod Mishra & T. K. Roy & Robert D. Retherford, 2004. "Sex Differentials in Childhood Feeding, Health Care, and Nutritional Status in India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 269-295, June.
    41. Stephani L. Hatch & Leon Feinstein & Bruce G. Link & Michael E. J. Wadsworth & Marcus Richards, 2007. "The Continuing Benefits of Education: Adult Education and Midlife Cognitive Ability in the British 1946 Birth Cohort," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 62(6), pages 404-414.
    42. Hilary Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Douglas Almond, 2016. "Long-Run Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(4), pages 903-934, April.
    43. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2009. "Early Life Health and Cognitive Function in Old Age," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 104-109, May.
    44. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger & David Schkade & Norbert Schwarz & Arthur A. Stone, 2006. "Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer? A Focusing Illusion," Working Papers 77, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    45. World Bank, 2016. "Live Long and Prosper," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 23133.
    46. Jere R. Behrman & Anil B. Deolalikar, 1990. "The Intrahousehold Demand for Nutrients in Rural South India: Individual Estimates, Fixed Effects, and Permanent Income," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4), pages 665-696.
    47. Kesternich, Iris & Siflinger, Bettina & Smith, James P. & Winter, Joachim K., 2013. "Individual Behavior as a Pathway between Early-Life Shocks and Adult Health: Evidence from Hunger Episodes in Post-War Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 7713, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    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. Angrisani, Marco & Lee, Jinkook & Meijer, Erik, 2020. "The gender gap in education and late-life cognition: Evidence from multiple countries and birth cohorts," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    2. Ilke Onur & Malathi Velamuri, 2018. "The gap between self-reported and objective measures of disease status in India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Woojin Chung & Roeul Kim, 2020. "Which Occupation is Highly Associated with Cognitive Impairment? A Gender-Specific Longitudinal Study of Paid and Unpaid Occupations in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, October.

    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. Bertoni, Marco, 2015. "Hungry today, unhappy tomorrow? Childhood hunger and subjective wellbeing later in life," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 40-53.
    2. Chen, Wen-Yi, 2016. "On the relationship between economic conditions around the time of birth and late life cognitive abilities: Evidence from Taiwan," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 126-139.
    3. Angrisani, Marco & Lee, Jinkook & Meijer, Erik, 2020. "The gender gap in education and late-life cognition: Evidence from multiple countries and birth cohorts," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    4. Jinkook Lee & Regina A. Shih & Kevin Carter Feeney & Kenneth M Langa, 2011. "Cognitive Health of Older Indians Individual and Geographic Determinants of Female Disadvantage," Working Papers 889, RAND Corporation.
    5. Lopez Boo, Florencia & Canon, Maria Eugenia, 2014. "Reversal of gender gaps in child development: Evidence from young children in India," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 55-59.
    6. Deng, Zichen & Lindeboom, Maarten, 2022. "A bit of salt, a trace of life: Gender norms and the impact of a salt iodization program on human capital formation of school aged children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Jinkook Lee & Regina A. Shih & Kevin Carter Feeney & Kenneth M Langa, 2011. "Cognitive Health of Older Indians Individual and Geographic Determinants of Female Disadvantage," Working Papers WR-889, RAND Corporation.
    8. Jakub Picka, 2014. "Problém "public-private pay gap" v České republice [The Public-Private Pay Gap in the Czech Republic]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(5), pages 662-682.
    9. Luojia Hu & Analía Schlosser, 2015. "Prenatal Sex Selection and Girls’ Well‐Being: Evidence from India," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(587), pages 1227-1261, September.
    10. Karolina Goraus & Joanna Tyrowicz, 2014. "Gender Wage Gap in Poland – Can It Be Explained by Differences in Observable Characteristics?," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 36.
    11. Achyuta Adhvaryu & Steven Bednar & Teresa Molina & Quynh Nguyen & Anant Nyshadham, 2020. "When It Rains It Pours: The Long-Run Economic Impacts of Salt Iodization in the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(2), pages 395-407, May.
    12. Jürgen Maurer, 2011. "Education and Male-Female Differences in Later-Life Cognition: International Evidence From Latin America and the Caribbean," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(3), pages 915-930, August.
    13. Elder, Todd E. & Goddeeris, John H. & Haider, Steven J., 2010. "Unexplained gaps and Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 284-290, January.
    14. Frenette, Marc, 2007. "Why Are Youth from Lower-income Families Less Likely to Attend University? Evidence from Academic Abilities, Parental Influences, and Financial Constraints," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2007295e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    15. Seneviratne, Prathi, 2020. "Gender wage inequality during Sri Lanka’s post-reform growth: A distributional analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    16. Reyn van Ewijk & Maarten Lindeboom, 2016. "Why people born during World War II are healthier," Working Papers 1619, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    17. Padmaja Ayyagari & David Frisvold, 2016. "The Impact of Social Security Income on Cognitive Function at Older Ages Full Access," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(4), pages 463-488, Fall.
    18. Achyuta Adhvaryu & Teresa Molina & Anant Nyshadham & Jorge Tamayo, 2024. "Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the PROGRESA Experiment," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 1-22.
    19. Frenette, Marc, 2007. "Pourquoi les jeunes provenant de familles a plus faible revenu sont-ils moins susceptibles de frequenter l'universite? Analyse fondee sur les aptitudes aux etudes, l'influence des parents et les contr," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2007295f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    20. Myoung-Jae Lee, 2015. "Reference parameters in Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition: Pooled-sample versus intercept-shift approaches," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(1), pages 69-82, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cognition; Gender differences; Early-life conditions; Education; Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East

    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:pra:mprapa:59776. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.