This research project investigates the nutritional status of children in vulnerable households in Bangladesh and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The nutritional status of children is an intrinsically important component of human welfare, as well as a proxy for overall population health and productivity. Promoting economic growth and moving large proportions of the population out of poverty requires substantial investments in human capital, specifically in the health and education of children who will undertake productive and reproductive roles as adults. In this study I evaluate children's human capital responses to negative and positive shocks, arguing that economic development and globalization have increased the frequency and intensity of such shocks.
I first investigate children's nutritional trajectories in the wake of severe flooding in Bangladesh in 1998, using longitudinal data from the post-flood period and a difference-in-difference-in-difference estimator with individual fixed effects. I also ask whether the relationship between flood exposure and child growth is moderated by parental capital, hypothesizing that households with lower levels of pre-flood resources are less able to protect children from shocks. I find that parental capital attenuates the negative effects of flood exposure on children's nutritional status during the post-flood year.
The second paper describes children's human capital in a population with high rates of development-induced displacement in Lao PDR. I ask whether children in resettled households have significantly different nutritional status and educational attainment than children in non-resettled households. I use multivariate regression and propensity score matching techniques to address the unobserved heterogeneity in the likelihood of being resettled. Results provide weak evidence that resettlement may affect long-term nutritional status but does not appear to negatively affect short-term nutritional status or educational attainment. Finally, I evaluate the health effects of new hygienic latrines in an urban slum in Bangladesh using data from a longitudinal household survey. Results suggest that the prevalence of improved latrines at the community level is a stronger predictor of child weight-for-height than household-specific latrine use, net of changes in household food security and hygiene behaviors.
My Research