Anthropometric failure and persistence of poverty in rural India

Raghav Gaiha and Veena Kulkarni

International Review of Applied Economics, 2005, vol. 19, issue 2, 179-197

Abstract: Recent studies have drawn attention to the high prevalence of stunting among children in rural India. In fact, these estimates point to more pervasive deprivation than conventional measures of poverty based on income or consumption expenditure shortfalls imply. Since stunting reflects cumulative nutritional and health deprivation, it is likely to persist despite higher incomes. With a view to shedding some new light on this issue, an analysis of the determinants of stunting is carried out, based on a recent all-India survey of rural households. While income matters, other factors acting independently of it matter too. These include household size, whether household head is male, caste affiliation, mother's age at marriage, mother's age, age composition of children, male-female wage differences, hygiene and sanitation facilities, and prices of food items. So, while higher incomes will help mitigate stunting, careful attention must also be given to enhancing women's autonomy through more remunerative employment opportunities for them, enabling households to improve hygiene and sanitation facilities, and facilitating more competitive local markets for food.

Keywords: Stunting; chronic deprivation; autonomy; hygiene and sanitation; food prices; JEL Classification: D1; D63; H51; I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02692170500031711 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to 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:taf:irapec:v:19:y:2005:i:2:p:179-197

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CIRA20

DOI: 10.1080/02692170500031711

Access Statistics for this article

International Review of Applied Economics is currently edited by Professor Malcolm Sawyer

More articles in International Review of Applied Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().