The impact of early life shocks on human capital formation: evidence from El Nino floods in Ecuador
The impact of early life shocks on human capital formation: evidence from El Nino floods in Ecuador
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jhealeco.2018.07.003
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发表时间：
2018-11-01
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Rosales-Rueda, Maria
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Rosales-Rueda, Maria
本文调查了子宫内和婴儿期的负面冲击对低收入儿童健康和认知结果的持续影响，并研究了暴露时间是否因技能类型而异。具体而言，我利用极端洪水在厄瓜多尔的地理强度在1997-1998年厄尔尼诺现象，它提供了外源性的变化，在不同时期的早期发展的曝光。我表明，在子宫内暴露于严重洪水的儿童，特别是在第三个三个月期间，在五年和七年后身材较短。此外，受洪水影响的儿童在怀孕的头三个月在认知测试中得分较低。此外，我通过研究出生时的健康和家庭投入（收入，消费和母乳喂养）来探索潜在的机制。我发现暴露在厄尔尼诺洪水中的孩子，特别是在子宫内的第三个三个月，更有可能出生体重不足。此外，受厄尔尼诺影响的家庭在冲击后的收入、总消费和食品消费都有所下降。证伪练习和稳健性检验表明，选择性生育率、流动性和婴儿死亡率等选择问题并不驱动这些结果。(C)2018 Elsevier B. V.版权所有。
This paper investigates the persistent effects of negative shocks in utero and in infancy on low-income children's health and cognitive outcomes and examines whether timing of exposure matters differentially by skill type. Specifically, I exploit the geographic intensity of extreme floods in Ecuador during the 1997-1998 El Nino phenomenon, which provides exogenous variation in exposure at different periods of early development. I show that children exposed to severe floods in utero, especially during the third trimester, are shorter in stature five and seven years later. Also, children affected by the floods in the first trimester of pregnancy score lower on cognitive tests. Additionally, I explore potential mechanisms by studying health at birth and family inputs (income, consumption, and breastfeeding). I find that children exposed to El Nino floods, especially during the third trimester in utero, were more likely to be born with low birth weight. Furthermore, households affected by El Nino suffered a decline in income, total consumption, and food consumption in the aftermath of the shock. Falsification exercises and robustness checks suggest that selection concerns such as selective fertility, mobility, and infant mortality do not drive these results. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.