Gerald Shively
Infrastructure mitigates the sensitivity of child growth to local agriculture and rainfall in Nepal and Uganda
Purdue University West Lafayette
paper investigates linear growth weight gain among 11946 children age 5 nepal uganda testing hypothesis child growth sensitive precipitation key periods childs early life paper also tests importance economic physical environments children reside outcomes completely explained agricultural performance observed characteristics children households associations heightforage zscore haz weightforheight zscore whz rainfall generally positive patterns heterogeneous mean increase 1 sd agricultural season rainfall associated 005 025point higher zscore translates increases roughly 413 haz 17 whz nutrition sensitivity rainfall greater nepal rainfall lower average wider ranging uganda health transport infrastructure help buffer children deleterious nutritional effects precipitation shortfalls underscoring role broadly based economic development promoting child nutrition