Reduced-form demand relations for weight, height and weight gain since birth are estimated using data on 7,907 children in Kenya. Maternal education is a significant determinant of all indicators, with secondary schooling having larger although not significantly different effects than primary...

Earnings data on a nationally representative sample of Indonesian adults show that males have significantly lower returns to secondary and tertiary schooling than females. These differences are greatest at the level of Diploma 1 and vocational secondary education, but are still substantial for...

Good estimates of nutrient intake responses to prices and income are very useful for the evaluation of the numerous efforts to improve nutrition in many developing countries through price-subsidy and income-generation policies. We discuss three problems in standard estimates of these responses...

A common dilemma facing educational planners engaged in educational reform in developing countries is the allocation of sharply-reduced resources to the expansion of school facilities versus improvement of existing school facilities (say, by raising the teacher/pupil ratio). The empirical...

We use village level data from the 1991 and 2001 Indian Censuses to examine how the availability of health facilities and safe drinking water at the village level affect juvenile sex ratios. In addition to controlling for village fixed effects in our estimating equation of the juvenile sex...

Reducing child malnutrition is a key goal of most developing countries. To combat child malnutrition with the right set of interventions, policymakers need to have a better understanding of its economic, social and policy determinants. While there is a large literature that investigates the...

Despite strong recent economic growth, gender inequality remains a major concern for India. This paper examines the effectiveness of a public policy geared towards the reduction of gender inequality. The national Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques (PNDT) Act of 1994, implemented...

Child malnutrition is pervasive in Bangladesh, with nearly one-half of all children below the age of five years being either underweight or stunted. The country has, however, made significant progress in reducing the incidence of child malnutrition during the last 15 years. There are large...

Comprising original and never-before-published papers by distinguished economists, this book offers insights about lessons that were or should have been learned from recent outbreaks of such crises in East Asia and elsewhere. Recent Financial Crises also presents a set of econometric studies of...

The global population is forecasted to reach 9.4 billion by 2050, with much of this increase concentrated in developing regions and cities. Ensuring adequate food and nourishment to this large population is a pressing economic, moral and even security challenge and requires research (and action)...