The Origins of Cognitive Skills and Non-cognitive Skills: The Long-Term Effect of in-Utero Rainfall Shocks in India

Grace Chang (), Marta Favara and Rafael Novella
Additional contact information
Grace Chang: London School of Economics

No 13960, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Skills are an important predictor of labour, education, and wellbeing outcomes. Understanding the origins of skills formation is important for reducing future inequalities. This paper analyses the effect of shocks in-utero on human capital outcomes in childhood and adolescence in India. Combining historical rainfall data and longitudinal data from Young Lives, we estimate the effect of rainfall shocks in-utero on cognitive and non-cognitive skills development over the first 15 years of life. We find negative effects of rainfall shocks on receptive vocabulary at age 5, and on mathematics and non-cognitive skills at age 15. Also, shocks occurred after the first trimester are more detrimental for skills development. Our findings support the implementation of policies aiming at reducing inequalities at very early stages in life.

Keywords: rainfall shocks; in-utero; skills formation; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I14 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2020-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-edu and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Economics & Human Biology, 2022, 44, 101089

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp13960.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The origins of cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills: The long-term effect of in-utero rainfall shocks in India (2022)
Working Paper: The origins of cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills: the long-term effect of in-utero rainfall shocks in India (2022)
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:iza:izadps:dp13960

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().