Aggregate Economic Shocks, Child Schooling, and Child Health

Ferreira, Francisco H.G.; Schady, Norbert

dc.creator	Ferreira, Francisco H.G.
dc.creator	Schady, Norbert
dc.date	2012-03-30T07:12:34Z
dc.date	2012-03-30T07:12:34Z
dc.date	2009-09-30
dc.date.accessioned	2023-02-18T19:40:22Z
dc.date.available	2023-02-18T19:40:22Z
dc.identifier	World Bank Research Observer
dc.identifier	1564-6971
dc.identifier	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4427
dc.identifier.uri	http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/249912
dc.description	Do aggregate income shocks, such as those caused by macroeconomic crises or droughts, reduce child human capital? The answer to this question has important implications for public policy. If shocks reduce investments in children, they may have a long-lasting impact on poverty and its intergenerational transmission. The authors develop a simple framework to analyze the effects of aggregate economic shocks on child schooling and health. They show that the expected effects are theoretically ambiguous because of a tension between income and substitution effects. They then review the recent empirical literature on the subject. In richer countries, like the United States, child health and education outcomes are counter-cyclical: they improve during recessions. In poorer countries, mostly in Africa and low-income Asia, the outcomes are procyclical: infant mortality rises and school enrollment and nutrition fall during recessions. In the middle-income countries of Latin America, the picture is more nuanced: health outcomes are generally procyclical and education outcomes counter-cyclical. Each of these findings is consistent with the simple conceptual framework. The authors discuss possible implications for expenditure allocation.
dc.publisher	World Bank
dc.rights	CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO
dc.rights	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/
dc.rights	World Bank
dc.subject	aged
dc.subject	breastfeeding
dc.subject	child nutrition
dc.subject	childbirth
dc.subject	depression
dc.subject	health care
dc.subject	health outcomes
dc.subject	health services
dc.subject	hygiene
dc.subject	intervention
dc.subject	medicines
dc.subject	mortality
dc.subject	nutrition
dc.subject	nutritional status
dc.subject	pollution
dc.subject	pregnant women
dc.subject	public health
dc.subject	smoking
dc.subject	unemployment
dc.subject	workers
dc.title	Aggregate Economic Shocks, Child Schooling, and Child Health
dc.type	Journal Article
dc.type	Publications & Research :: Journal Article
dc.type	Publications & Research