Soil Aridification, Precipitations, and Infant Health: Evidence from Africa

Jacopo Lunghi, Maurizio Malpede and Marco Percoco

No 23, GREEN Working Papers from GREEN, Centre for Research on Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy & Networks, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy

Abstract: This study shows how soil aridity (proxied with a measure of soil potential evapotranspiration) impacts child wellbeing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using climate and infant health data from a grid of approximately 4,000 cells in 34 African countries, we find that infants born in arid areas are comparatively more likely to die under the age of 5 and be systematically underweight at birth. In addition, we show how the aridity measure in this study reduces the effect of rainfall on child wellbeing and how aridification drives substantial heterogeneity in the estimated response to increasing precipitation. The findings are combined with model projections of future climate conditions to emphasize the importance of accounting for aridity alongside precipitations when assessing the economic impact of climate.

Keywords: Rainfall; climate change; potential evapotranspiration; child mortality; infant health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 J1 J13 O15 Q54 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39
Date: 2023-05
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