This paper investigates the effect of a food subsidy programme in India on child malnutrition by addressing the following linked questions using household survey data that includes information on usage of the public distribution system. First, does the food subsidy induce higher expenditures on...

Research has shown that cultural consumption has several positive effects on children's development, such as socio-emotional development, school aspirations, academic proficiency, and cultural capital formation. However, little is known empirically about the spatial distribution of cultural...

This paper examines the relationship between access to drinking water, sanitation facilities, and health outcomes for children in India. We use the NFHS 2005-2006 household-level survey data to construct the nutritional distribution for two anthropometric health measures for children between...

We estimate the effects of childcare enrollment on child outcomes by exploiting a staggered childcare expansion across regions in Japan. We find that childcare improves language development and reduces the symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and aggression among the children of low-education...

The dissolution of the Soviet Union and 1992-96 Tajik civil war resulted in huge human and economic losses. Nevertheless, contemporary data suggest the persistence of investments in human capital in the region most affected by famine and least favoured since the cessation of hostilities,...

Maternity and family leave policies enable mothers to take time off work to prepare for and recover from childbirth and to care for their new children. While there is substantial variation in the details of these policies around the world, the existing research yields the following general...

Maternity and family leave policies enable mothers to take time off work to prepare for and recover from childbirth and to care for their new children. While there is substantial variation in the details of these policies around the world, the existing research yields the following general...

We are the first to examine the effect of Superfund cleanups on infant health rather than focusing on proximity to a site. We study singleton births to mothers residing within 5km of a Superfund site between 1989 and 2003 in five large states. Our “difference in differences” approach...

Children spend years in foster care, and there are concerns that bureaucratic hurdles contribute to unnecessarily long stays. In a novel approach to policy making, the Chilean government randomized the introduction of a program aimed at reducing these delays in order to evaluate its effects on...

Communal organizations such as user associations and cooperatives are quite prevalent in some developing countries where public and private systems fail to provide basic services like water and sanitation. Yet, there is debate in the literature on whether communal provision can actually work....