Rohini Pande , Harvard University
Centre for Development Economics
and
Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
ANNOUNCE A SEMINAR
Why are Indian Children Shorter than African Children?
by
Rohini Pande
Harvard University
Tuesday, 29th July 2014 at 2:00 PM
Venue : Seminar Room (First Floor)
Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
All are cordially invited
Abstract
Child height-for-age is lower in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa, which presents a puzzle since India is on average richer than Africa and fares better on most other development indicators such as infant mortality. Using data from African and Indian Demographic and Health Surveys, we document three facts. First, among firstborns, Indians are actually taller than Africans; the Indian height disadvantage appears with the second child and increases with birth order. The differentially strong birth order gradient in India exists even when we only use between-sibling variation. Second, investments in successive pregnancies and children decline faster in India than Africa. Third, the India-Africa birth order gradient in child height varies with sibling gender. These three facts suggest a large role for environmental factors in explaining why Indian children are short. Specifically, parental preferences regarding higher birth order children, driven in part by cultural norms of eldest son preference, seem to underlie much of India's child stunting.