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The Indian Enigma revisited

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  • Von Grafenstein, Liza
  • Klasen, Stephan
  • Hoddinott, John

Abstract

This paper re-enters the contested discussion surrounding the Indian Enigma, the high prevalence of chronic undernutrition in India relative to sub-Saharan Africa. Jayachandran & Pande argue that the key to the Indian enigma lies in the worse treatment of higher birth order children, particularly girls. Analyzing new data, we find: (1) Parameter estimates are sensitive to sampling design and model specification; (2) The gap between the heights of pre-school African and Indian children is closing; (3) The gap does not appear to be driven by differential associations by birth order and child sex; (4) The remaining gap is associated with differences in maternal heights. If Indian women had the heights of their African counterparts, pre-school Indian children would be taller than pre-school African children; and (5) Once we account for survey design, sibling size and maternal height, the coefficient associated with being an Indian girl is no longer statistically significant.

Suggested Citation

  • Von Grafenstein, Liza & Klasen, Stephan & Hoddinott, John, 2022. "The Indian Enigma revisited," Sustainable Food Systems Discussion Papers 322717, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:gausfs:322717
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.322717
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    1. Aiyar, Anaka & Dhingra, Sunaina & Pingali, Prabhu, 2021. "Transitioning to an obese India: Demographic and structural determinants of the rapid rise in overweight incidence," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    2. Puentes, Esteban & Wang, Fan & Behrman, Jere R. & Cunha, Flavio & Hoddinott, John & Maluccio, John A. & Adair, Linda S. & Borja, Judith B. & Martorell, Reynaldo & Stein, Aryeh D., 2016. "Early life height and weight production functions with endogenous energy and protein inputs," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 65-81.
    3. 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).
    4. Alacevich, Caterina & Tarozzi, Alessandro, 2017. "Child height and intergenerational transmission of health: Evidence from ethnic Indians in England," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 65-84.
    5. Harold Alderman & John Hoddinott & Bill Kinsey, 2006. "Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 450-474, July.
    6. Derek Headey & Kalle Hirvonen & John Hoddinott, 2018. "Animal Sourced Foods and Child Stunting," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(5), pages 1302-1319.
    7. Aiyar, Anaka & Cummins, Joseph R., 2021. "An age profile perspective on two puzzles in global child health: The Indian Enigma & economic growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    8. Deshpande, Ashwini & Ramachandran, Rajesh, 2022. "Early childhood stunting and later life outcomes: A longitudinal analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    9. Seiler, Johannes & Harttgen, Kenneth & Kneib, Thomas & Lang, Stefan, 2021. "Modelling children's anthropometric status using Bayesian distributional regression merging socio-economic and remote sensed data from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    10. Seema Jayachandran & Rohini Pande, 2017. "Why Are Indian Children So Short? The Role of Birth Order and Son Preference," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(9), pages 2600-2629, September.
    11. Sunaina Dhingra & Prabhu L. Pingali, 2021. "Effects of short birth spacing on birth-order differences in child stunting: Evidence from India," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(8), pages 2017834118-, February.
    12. Spears, Dean & Coffey, Diane & Behrman, Jere R., 2022. "Endogenous inclusion in the Demographic and Health Survey anthropometric sample: Implications for studying height within households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
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    Cited by:

    1. Cummins, Joseph & Guo, Jingyan & Agarwal, Neha & Aiyar, Anaka & Jain, Vaishali & Bergmann, Andrew, 2024. "Caste Differences in Child Growth: Disentangling Endowment and Investment Effects," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    2. Chandna, Arjita & Bhagowalia, Priya, 2024. "Birth order and children’s health and learning outcomes in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    3. Schneider, Eric B., 2023. "The determinants of child stunting and shifts in the growth pattern of children: a long-run, global review," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120392, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Ashwini Deshpande & Rajesh Ramachandran, 2023. "Stunting and Social Identity: Revisiting the India - Africa Comparison," Working Papers 97, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Health Economics and Policy; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Labor and Human Capital; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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