Iodine Deficiency and Schooling Attainment in Tanzania

Erica Field, Omar Robles and Maximo Torero

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2009, vol. 1, issue 4, 140-69

Abstract: Cognitive damage from iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) has important implications for economic growth through its effect on human capital. To gauge the magnitude of this influence, we evaluate the impact on schooling of reductions in IDD from intensive iodine supplementation in Tanzania. Our findings suggest a large effect of in utero iodine on cognition and human capital: treated children attain an estimated 0.35-0.56 years of additional schooling relative to siblings and older and younger peers. Furthermore, the effect appears to be substantially larger for girls, consistent with laboratory evidence indicating greater cognitive sensitivity of female fetuses to maternal thyroid deprivation. (JEL I12, I21, J16, O15)

JEL-codes: I12 I21 J16 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.1.4.140
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (136)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.1.4.140 (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0158_data.zip (application/zip)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0158_app.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:1:y:2009:i:4:p:140-69

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics is currently edited by Alexandre Mas

More articles in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().