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The nutritional returns to parental education:

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  • Alderman, Harold
  • Headey, Derek D.

Abstract

Though parental education is widely perceived to be an important determinant of child nutrition outcomes, there remain significant uncertainties about whether maternal or paternal education matters most, whether there are increasing or decreasing returns to parental education, and whether these returns are robust given that recent gains in enrollment have not always translated into commensurate gains in learning outcomes. In this paper we investigate these questions through a statistical analysis of child growth data for approximately 99,000 children in 19 countries with some of the highest burdens of undernutrition. Pooling across countries, we find that maternal education yields larger returns than paternal education, although for both sexes positive returns generally only appear with secondary education.

Suggested Citation

  • Alderman, Harold & Headey, Derek D., 2014. "The nutritional returns to parental education:," IFPRI discussion papers 1379, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1379
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    Cited by:

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    2. Benson, Todd & Amare, Mulubrhan & Oyeyemi, Motunrayo & Fadare, Olusegun, 2017. "Study of the Determinants of Chronic Malnutrition in Northern Nigeria: Qualitative Evidence from Kebbi and Bauchi States," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 265409, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).
    3. Choudhury, Samira & Headey, Derek D., 2016. "What drives diversification of national food supplies? A cross-country analysis," IFPRI discussion papers 1581, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Joseph Deutsch & Jacques Silber, 2017. "Does women’s empowerment affect the health of children? The case of Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series 211, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Hirvonen, Kalle & Hoddinott, John & Minten, Bart & Stifel, David, 2017. "Children’s Diets, Nutrition Knowledge, and Access to Markets," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 303-315.
    6. Joseph Deutsch & Jacques Silber, 2017. "Does women's empowerment affect the health of children?: The case of Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-211, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    Keywords

    Children; Education; Nutrition; malnutrition; Undernutrition; Stunting; parental education; Parents;
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