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Socioeconomic Determinants of Child Health - Empirical Evidence from Indonesia

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  • Subha Mani

    (Fordham University)

Abstract

This paper characterizes the socioeconomic determinants of child health using height-for-age z-score (HAZ) - a long-run measure of chronic nutritional deficiency. We construct a panel data set that follows children between 3 and 59 months in 1993 through the 1997 and 2000 waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey. We use this data to identify the various child level, household level and community level factors that affect children’s health. Our findings indicate that household income has a large and statistically significant role in explaining improvements in HAZ. We also find a strong positive association between parental height and HAZ. At the community level, we find that provision of electricity and availability of a paved road is positively associated with improvements in HAZ. Finally, in comparison to community level factors, household level characteristics have a large role in explaining the variation in HAZ. These findings suggest that policies that address the demand side constraints will have a greater potential to improve children's health outcomes in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Subha Mani, 2013. "Socioeconomic Determinants of Child Health - Empirical Evidence from Indonesia," Fordham Economics Discussion Paper Series dp2013-07, Fordham University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:frd:wpaper:dp2013-07
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    File URL: https://archive.fordham.edu/ECONOMICS_RESEARCH/PAPERS/DP2013_07_Mani.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. #HEJC papers for September 2013
      by academichealtheconomists in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2013-09-01 04:01:38

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    Cited by:

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    2. Abreha, Solomon K. & Walelign, Solomon Z. & Zereyesus, Yacob A., 2020. "Associations between Women’s Empowerment and Child Health Status in Ethiopia," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304174, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Tri Mulyaningsih & Itismita Mohanty & Tesfaye Alemayehu Gebremedhin & Riyana Miranti & Vitri Widyaningsih, 2023. "Does access to water, sanitation, and hygiene improve children's health? An empirical analysis in Indonesia," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(5), September.
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    5. Solomon Kibret Abreha & Solomon Zena Walelign & Yacob Abrehe Zereyesus, 2020. "Associations between women’s empowerment and children’s health status in Ethiopia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-24, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child health; Panel data; Indonesia; Height;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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