Downloads
WP201915.pdf
PDF | 662.37 KB
This paper estimates flexible child health production functions to investigate whether better water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices make nutrition intake more productive for children aged 6-24 months. Using cohort data, with detailed information on nutrition intake and WASH investments, and a control function approach to account for endogeneity of inputs, we show that better WASH increases the productivity of protein and calories in the formation of child health using as proxies child height and weight. We also uncover heterogeneity in the productivity of these inputs by child gender: nutritional intake is found to be more productive for boys, and WASH investments more productive for girls. Further analysis indicates that this is not driven by differential parental invest-ments by child gender. Although the study sample are children born in the early 1980s they faced similar nutritional and WASH conditions as those faced by children currently living in poor households in low-income settings.
Authors
Research Fellow Institute for Fiscal Studies
Laura is a Research Fellow at IFS. Her current work focuses on tax and social protection policy and programme evaluation in developing countries.
Research Fellow City, University of London
Bansi is a Research Fellow of the IFS, a Senior Lecturer of Economics at the City, University of London and also a Fellow at the Global Labor Organisa
Associate Director
Britta is an IFS Associate Director, Associate Staff at the Department of Economics at the UC and Researcher at NIHR Obesity Policy Research Unit.
Research Associate University of Chile
Pamela is a Research Associate of the IFS and Assistant Professor of Economics at the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Chile.
Angus Phimister
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.ifs.2019.1519
- Publisher
- The IFS
Suggested citation
Abramovsky, L et al. (2019). Complementarities in the Production of Child Health. London: The IFS. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/complementarities-production-child-health (accessed: 4 November 2024).
Related documents
Online Appendix
PDF | 276.67 KB
More from IFS
Understand this issue
Can the new government fix the NHS?
14 August 2024
Liberal Democrat manifesto: a reaction
10 June 2024
Retirement is not always a choice that workers can afford to make
6 November 2023
Policy analysis
How do the last five years measure up on levelling up?
19 June 2024
A response to the Conservatives’ proposals to reduce growth in the health-related benefits bill
8 June 2024
Free breakfast clubs in schools: what Labour’s plans would mean for pupils and families
25 June 2024
Academic research
Survey of the Ghanaian Tax System
This edition of the Survey of Ghana’s Tax System provides a comprehensive overview of the tax system as of the start of 2024.
9 October 2024
The effect of center-based early education on disadvantaged children’s developmental trajectories: experimental evidence from Colombia
We study the impacts of high-quality, center-based early childhood education on low income children in Colombia, tracking participants over five years
4 October 2024
Health inequality and health types
We use k-means clustering, a machine learning technique, and Health and Retirement Study data to identify health types during middle and old age.
3 October 2024