Effect of Health on Human Capital Accumulation in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam: A Quantile Regression Approach

Kaushalendra Kumar, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Ashish Singh, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Santosh Kumar, Sam Houston State University
Abhishek Singh, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Using Young Lives Study (YLS), we investigate the effects of conditional linear growth (CLG) and conditional relative weight gain (CRWG) on human capital (education and health) accumulation. We examine the mid-childhood cohorts drawn from Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam; surveyed in 2002 and followed-up in 2009-10; and measure – educational capital by schooling, vocabulary and math test-scores; and health capital by z-scores of height and BMI. Cluster fixed effect linear regression shows that CLG and CRWG have positive effects on health and education capital. Also, cluster fixed effect quantile regression shows that the positive effect of CLG and CRWG on – first, schooling and vocabulary scores decreases at higher levels of distribution; and second, BMI and height-for-age increase at higher levels of distribution of BMI and height-for-age, respectively. Our study highlights that mid-childhood nutritional intervention in case of stunted/underweight children can accomplish higher level of human capital accumulation and economic growth.