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Beyond Average Treatment Effects: Distribution of Child Nutrition Outcomes and Program Placement in India's ICDS

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  • Kandpal, Eeshani

Abstract

Summary The Indian Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) aims to improve child nutrition by providing nutritional supplements and pre- and post-natal services to targeted villages. However, previous evaluations find that ICDS fails to reduce malnutrition, and program placement does not uniformly target vulnerable areas. I use new data to reevaluate ICDS on several dimensions; in contrast to previous studies, I find significant treatment effects particularly for the most malnourished children. However, results suggest targeting does not work uniformly well: ICDS effectively targets poor areas, but fails to target areas with low levels of average education or those with unbalanced sex ratios.

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  • Kandpal, Eeshani, 2011. "Beyond Average Treatment Effects: Distribution of Child Nutrition Outcomes and Program Placement in India's ICDS," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1410-1421, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:8:p:1410-1421
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    2. 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.
    3. Imai, Katsushi S. & Annim, Samuel Kobina & Kulkarni, Veena S. & Gaiha, Raghav, 2014. "Women’s Empowerment and Prevalence of Stunted and Underweight Children in Rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 88-105.
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    5. Ivica Petrikova, 2022. "The role of complementary feeding in India’s high child malnutrition rates: findings from a comprehensive analysis of NFHS IV (2015–2016) data," 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 39-66, February.
    6. Ren, Meiqing, 2024. "Preschool and child health: Evidence from China's universal child care reform," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    7. Nitya Mittal & J.V. Meenakshi, 2016. "Does the ICDS Improve the Quantity and Quality of Children’s Diets? Some Evidence from Rural Bihar," Working papers 257, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    8. Skylab Sahu & Pradeep Kumar Mehta, 2023. "Committed for Social Change: Analysing the Role of Frontline Health Workers During Pandemic in Rural Odisha," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 17(2), pages 359-369, August.
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    10. Nitya Mittal and J V Meenakshi, 2015. "Utilization Of Icds Services And Their Impact On Child Health Outcomes - Evidence From Three East Indian States," Working papers 247, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    11. Nitya Mittal & Meenakshi J V, 2016. "Does the ICDS Improve the Quantity and Quality of Children’s Diets? Some Evidence from Rural Bihar," Working Papers id:11239, eSocialSciences.
    12. Kekre, Aishwarya & Mahajan, Kanika, 2023. "Maternity support and child health: Unintended gendered effects," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 880-898.
    13. Jain, Monica, 2015. "India’s Struggle Against Malnutrition—Is the ICDS Program the Answer?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 72-89.
    14. Krause, Brooke Laura, 2013. "Childhood Malnutrition and Educational Attainment: An Analysis using Oxford's Young Lives Longitudinal Study in Peru," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150598, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Sunil Rajpal & William Joe & Malavika A. Subramanyam & Rajan Sankar & Smriti Sharma & Alok Kumar & Rockli Kim & S. V. Subramanian, 2020. "Utilization of Integrated Child Development Services in India: Programmatic Insights from National Family Health Survey, 2016," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-16, May.
    16. Krause, Brooke Laura, 2012. "Childhood Malnutrition and Educational Attainment: An Analysis using Oxford’s Young Lives Longitudinal Study in Peru," Master's Theses and Plan B Papers 146072, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    17. Aishwarya Kekre & Kanika Mahajan, 2022. "Maternity Support, Child Health and Unintended Gendered Effects," Working Papers 84, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
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