Stunted by the Smoke? Household Environment and Child Development in Indonesia

Exploiting panel data from the Indonesian Family Life Study, this paper investigates whether in-home air pollution is linked to child development. While more severe, acute health impacts have been linked to the indoor air pollution in the past, less attention has been paid to long-term outcomes such as height for age. We instrument for fuel use two ways, with fuel prices and with consumption of rice, an inelastically consumed staple food, finding effects that are robustly significant and roughly consistent in size across specifications, even considering alternative specifications such as OLS and matching procedures. Economists and policymakers should not neglect the long-term human capital development implications of improving indoor air quality