The Rise and Fall of SES Gradients in Heights Around the World

We use data from a large sample of low- and middle-income countries to study the association (or “gradient") between child height and maternal education. We show that the association is small at birth, rises throughout childhood and declines in adolescence as girls and boys go through puberty. This inverted U-shaped pattern is consistent with a degree of catch up in height among children of low SES families, in partial contrast to the argument that height deficits cannot be overcome after the early years of life. This catch up appears to be explained by the association between SES and the timing of puberty and therefore of the adolescent growth spurt: low SES children start their adolescent growth spurt later and stop growing at later ages as well. By contrast, we do not find evidence in support of the role of behavioral responses in driving the inverted U-shape of the gradient