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Impact of Rainfall Shocks on Child Health: Evidence from India

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  • Vibhuti Mendiratta

    (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

Abstract

While there is evidence of discrimination against girls in the allocation of resources within a household under normal circumstances, it would be worthwhile to explore the effect of extreme conditions such as rainfall shocks on the outcomes of surviving girls and boys. In this paper, I estimate the impact of rainfall shocks in early childhood on the anthropometric outcomes of girls and boys aged 13-36 months in rural India. I find that adverse negative rainfall shocks (in utero and first year after birth) negatively impact height for age and weight for age for both girls and boys. Further, I explore two channels through which rainfall affects child health: by affecting the relative price of parent's time in childcare and through income (as rainfall generates variation in income through its effect on agricultural output). I find that positive rainfall has a positive effect on agricultural yield and arguably income in India. This is further supported by the finding that negative shocks are harder to insure in poorer states and poorer households as reflected by the poor anthropometric outcomes of children.

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  • Vibhuti Mendiratta, 2015. "Impact of Rainfall Shocks on Child Health: Evidence from India," Working Papers halshs-01211575, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01211575
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01211575
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    2. Kebede,Hundanol Atnafu, 2021. "The Pass-Through of International Commodity Price Shocks to Producers’ Welfare : Evidence from EthiopianCoffee Farmers," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9839, The World Bank.
    3. Debebe,Zelalem Yilma & Raju,Dhushyanth, 2020. "Covariate Shocks and Child Undernutrition : A Review of Evidence from Low- and Middle-Income Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9273, The World Bank.
    4. Manuel Barron, 2018. "In-utero weather shocks and learning outcomes," Working Papers 137, Peruvian Economic Association.
    5. Holland, Cara & Rammohan, Anu, 2019. "Rural women’s empowerment and children’s food and nutrition security in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Manuel Barron & Sam Heft-Neal & Tania Perez, 2018. "Long-term effects of weather during gestation on education and labor outcomes: Evidence from Peru," Working Papers 134, Peruvian Economic Association.
    7. Barron, Manuel, 2022. "Moving down the energy ladder: In-utero temperature and fuel choice in adulthood," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

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    Keywords

    Anthropometric outcomes; Rainfall; India;
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