{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-post-query-tsx","path":"/blog-post/economic-growth-does-not-cause-child-growth-so-what-does-2/","result":{"pageContext":{"post":{"slug":"/blog-post/economic-growth-does-not-cause-child-growth-so-what-does-2/","title":"Economic growth does not cause child growth… so what does?","date":"Mar 29, 2014","timeToRead":1,"description":"","body":"function _extends() { _extends = Object.assign || function (target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i]; for (var key in source) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(source, key)) { target[key] = source[key]; } } } return target; }; return _extends.apply(this, arguments); }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutProperties(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded); var key, i; if (Object.getOwnPropertySymbols) { var sourceSymbolKeys = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source); for (i = 0; i < sourceSymbolKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceSymbolKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; if (!Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable.call(source, key)) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } } return target; }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = {}; var sourceKeys = Object.keys(source); var key, i; for (i = 0; i < sourceKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } return target; }\n\n/* @jsxRuntime classic */\n\n/* @jsx mdx */\nvar _frontmatter = {\n  \"title\": \"Economic growth does not cause child growth… so what does?\",\n  \"date\": \"2014-03-29\",\n  \"template\": \"post\",\n  \"slug\": \"economic-growth-does-not-cause-child-growth-so-what-does-2\",\n  \"postedLink\": \"https://riceinstitute.org/blog/economic-growth-does-not-cause-child-growth-so-what-does-2/\",\n  \"old-tags\": [\"child-health-2\", \"economic-growth\", \"in-the-news\"],\n  \"description\": \"\",\n  \"tags\": \"Blog Post\",\n  \"banner\": \"\"\n};\nvar layoutProps = {\n  _frontmatter: _frontmatter\n};\nvar MDXLayout = \"wrapper\";\nreturn function MDXContent(_ref) {\n  var components = _ref.components,\n      props = _objectWithoutProperties(_ref, [\"components\"]);\n\n  return mdx(MDXLayout, _extends({}, layoutProps, props, {\n    components: components,\n    mdxType: \"MDXLayout\"\n  }), mdx(\"p\", null, \"A recent article about child height in the \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"Lancet\"), \" has been getting wide attention, even at macroeconomist \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/growth-versus-distribution-hunger-games/\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"Paul Krugman\\u2019s blog\"), \". As Sebastian Vollmer and coauthors conclude, in their paper titled \\u201C\", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(14)70025-7/fulltext\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"Association between economic growth and early childhood undernutrition: evidence from 121 Demographic and Health Surveys from 36 low-income and middle-income countries\"), \",\\u201C \\u201Ca quantitatively very small to null association was seen between increases in per-head GDP and reductions in early childhood undernutrition, emphasising the need for direct health investments to improve the nutritional status of children in low-income and middle-income countries.\\u201D\"), mdx(\"p\", null, mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://riceinstitute.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/PIIS2214109X14700257_gr3_lrg.jpg\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, mdx(\"span\", {\n    parentName: \"a\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-wrapper\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"display\": \"block\",\n      \"marginLeft\": \"auto\",\n      \"marginRight\": \"auto\",\n      \"maxWidth\": \"449px\"\n    }\n  }, \"\\n      \", mdx(\"span\", {\n    parentName: \"span\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-background-image\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"paddingBottom\": \"246.5%\",\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"bottom\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\",\n      \"backgroundImage\": \"url('data:image/jpeg;base64,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')\",\n      \"backgroundSize\": \"cover\",\n      \"display\": \"block\"\n    }\n  }), \"\\n  \", mdx(\"img\", {\n    parentName: \"span\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-image\",\n    \"alt\": \"PIIS2214109X14700257_gr3_lrg\",\n    \"title\": \"PIIS2214109X14700257_gr3_lrg\",\n    \"src\": \"/static/04401158a91ea3c26365d2eedde47a9e/81100/PIIS2214109X14700257_gr3_lrg.jpg\",\n    \"srcSet\": [\"/static/04401158a91ea3c26365d2eedde47a9e/37402/PIIS2214109X14700257_gr3_lrg.jpg 200w\", \"/static/04401158a91ea3c26365d2eedde47a9e/81100/PIIS2214109X14700257_gr3_lrg.jpg 449w\"],\n    \"sizes\": \"(max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"width\": \"100%\",\n      \"height\": \"100%\",\n      \"margin\": \"0\",\n      \"verticalAlign\": \"middle\",\n      \"position\": \"absolute\",\n      \"top\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\"\n    },\n    \"loading\": \"lazy\"\n  }), \"\\n    \"))), mdx(\"p\", null, \"So, it turns out that GDP growth does not make children taller, on average. This is actually somewhat old news: \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://www.princeton.edu/~deaton/downloads/height_health_dev_aug07.pdf\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"Angus Deaton showed in 2007\"), \" that GDP levels are not correlated with height. At last summer\\u2019s child height conference at the Delhi School of Economics, \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://www.slideshare.net/aashishysg/1-wealth-andhealthofchildreninindia\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"Aparajita Chattopadhyay presented a paper\"), \", which is now forthcoming in \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"EPW\"), \", showing that economic growth in Indian states is not correlated with children\\u2019s height.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"So, if economic growth does not cause child growth, what does? Good early life health and net nutrition \\u2013 including moms getting good things to eat during pregnancy and breastfeeding and a healthy epidemiological environment free from disease and poor sanitation. Money does not appear to be the most important constraint on either of these here in India.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"Lancet\"), \" article was published along with a \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(14)70200-1/fulltext\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"comment by Abhijeet Singh\"), \", who made this point, and cited some of r.i.c.e.\\u2019s work on sanitation and child height along the way: \\u201CPublic health and nutritional interventions can have an important role in reducing child undernutrition. Spears documents a clear gradient between sanitation and child undernutrition, large enough to statistically explain excess stunting in India compared with sub-Saharan African countries; in another recent study, my co-authors and I also document that the Indian Midday Meals programme in schools leads to catch-up growth to compensate for drought-related nutritional deprivation in early childhood. Although economic growth alone might not accomplish an end to child undernutrition, proven interventions targeted at nutrition might.\\u201D\"));\n}\n;\nMDXContent.isMDXComponent = true;","tags":[{"name":"Blog Post","slug":"blog-post"}],"banner":null}}},"staticQueryHashes":["318001574","3787687951","3787687951"]}