Suchergebnisse

Child health is a major concern in developing countries. Annually six million children die before their fifth birthday. Eighty percent of the deaths happen in Sub Saharan Africa and Asia and forty five percent of these deaths are caused by under-nutrition. For those children who survive, thirty three percent are stunted over their life time. In this dissertation I identify two mechanisms through which we can deal with the problem. One is the role of health policy and the other is the role of economic growth. In the case of the former, we are now aware from extant literature in economics that investments in health and education resources for children under the age of six will positively impact their long run health and productivity outcomes. In chapter two and three of the dissertation, I evaluate the benefits and the unintended consequences of providing government subsidized health insurance policy to children under the age of six in Vietnam. I find that parents are more likely to take children who are covered by health insurance to doctors and spend more on their health. However, this comes at the cost of human capital investments such as health and education spending for older children in the household who are not eligible for the policy. Women, who are primary care givers in the house, allocate more time in the labor market once their children are covered by insurance. This increases both spending on food and health within the household. Chapter four models the relationship between economic growth and child health, as measured by height for age z (HAZ) scores. With the help of new methodological and conceptual tools, this paper shows that economic growth provides a cushion against the rapid loss of HAZ in the first two years of a child's life. The paper also shows that economic growth in the birth year of a child has cumulative positive effects on HAZ when they are between the ages of one to three. At age four, economic growth in the more recent period and the current disease environment may play a bigger role in determining child health.

The theory that links exporting behaviour and productivity consists broadly of two hypotheses—the 'self-selection hypothesis'—more productive firms venturing for exports and the 'learning by exporting hypothesis'—exporting leads to increased productivity. This study measures the productivity differentials between exporters and non-exporters for 120 firms belonging to the Indian chemical industry to investigate if the self-selection hypothesis holds. The productivity differential comparison between exporters and non-exporters show that non-exporters have higher total factor productivity than exporters. Though labour productivity is higher in exporters than non-exporters, the yearly averages show that the labour productivity of exporters is converging to that on the non-exporters. In terms of capital productivity, overall averages show that exporters are more productive, but yearly trend shows that capital productivity of non-exporters has overtaken that of exporters over the years. With respect to self-selection hypothesis, the study does not find any evidence for it for the chemical industry. Prior exporting status, size, being part of a group and age are the only factors that induce a firm to go for exporting.

Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India -- Abbreviations -- Foreword -- Preface -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Author Biographies -- Chapter 1: Indian Food Systems towards 2050: Challenges and Opportunities -- 1.1 Motivation -- 1.2 Approach -- 1.3 Key Takeaways from the Book -- Chapter 2: Economic Growth, Agriculture and Food Systems: Explaining Regional Diversity -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Explaining Inter-State Divergence in Structural Transformation -- 2.2.1 Characterizing ST by Development Process Adopted -- 2.2.2 An Empirical Exercise on Characterizing ST in India -- 2.3 Transition from the Agriculture to the Non-agricultural Sector: Frictions and Search Costs in Labor Markets -- 2.3.1 The Push and Pull of Migration in Response to Disequilibria in Labor Markets -- 2.3.2 Explaining High R2R Migration Rates: Moving Low-skilled Agricultural Labor Between Low and High ST States -- 2.3.3 Explaining Low R2U Migration Rates: Illuminating Frictions That Affect the Speed of Transition -- 2.3.4 Changing Demographic Structure and Its Impact on Rural Productivity -- 2.4 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 3: Rural Livelihood Challenges: Moving out of Agriculture -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Non-farm Sector as Part of the Development Strategy -- 3.2.1 Distributional Implications of Non-farm Income -- 3.3 Composition of the Rural Non-farm Sector in India -- 3.4 Urbanization and Growth of the Rural Economy -- 3.4.1 Emergence of Smaller Towns -- 3.4.2 Peri-urban Areas and Agricultural Growth -- 3.5 Policy Strategies to Encourage the Growth of the Non-farm Sector in India -- 3.5.1 Focus on Agriculture and Rural Infrastructure -- 3.5.2 Governing Census Towns as Urban Areas -- 3.5.3 Linking Food Systems to the Jobs Agenda -- 3.5.4 Skill Enhancement and Investment in Human Capital -- 3.5.5 Quality of Non-farm Sector -- 3.6 Conclusion.

This open access book examines the interactions between India's economic development, agricultural production, and nutrition through the lens of a "Food Systems Approach (FSA)." The Indian growth story is a paradoxical one. Despite economic progress over the past two decades, regional inequality, food insecurity and malnutrition problems persist. Simultaneously, recent trends in obesity along with micro-nutrient deficiency portend to a future public health crisis. This book explores various challenges and opportunities to achieve a nutrition-secure future through diversified production systems, improved health and hygiene environment and greater individual capability to access a balanced diet contributing to an increase in overall productivity. The authors bring together the latest data and scientific evidence from the country to map out the current state of food systems and nutrition outcomes. They place India within the context of other developing country experiences and highlight India's status as an outlier in terms of the persistence of high levels of stunting while following global trends in obesity. This book discusses the policy and institutional interventions needed for promoting a nutrition-sensitive food system and the multi-sectoral strategies needed for simultaneously addressing the triple burden of malnutrition in India.