This paper analyzes adult height gain over more than a half-century in China and identifies the evolving relationship between parental schooling and their children’s height as adults. We find that while mean adult height increased sharply (by 7 cms.) over a 60-year period from the 1930s to the...

Health and nutrition are important as ends in themselves and often are emphasized as critical components of basic needs in developing countries. Cross-country comparisons of standard data suggest that on the average health and nutrition in the developing world falls considerably short of that in...

Benefit-cost analysis and other forms of economic evaluation are powerful tools, encouraging the systematic collection and assessment of the evidence needed to support sound policy decisions. In low-and middle-income countries, where resources are very scarce and needs are very great, such...

This paper studies the impact of co-residence with father-in-law and mother-in-law on female labor force participation (FLFP) and autonomy. We study this in the Indian context where patrilocality is common and women have limited mobility and autonomy, especially with a parent-in-law present in...

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...

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...