Growing richer and taller: Explaining change in the distribution of child nutritional status during Vietnam's economic boom

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: O'Donnell, Owen; Nicolas, Angel Lopez; Van Doorslaer, Eddy
• 署名单位: University of Macedonia; Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena; Pompeu Fabra University; Erasmus University Rotterdam; Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2008.01.004
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 45-58
• 关键词: Malnutrition; Child height; DECOMPOSITION; quantile regression; Vietnam

摘要

Over a five-year period in the 1990s Vietnam experienced annual economic growth of more than 8% and a 15 point decrease in the proportion of children chronically malnourished (stunted). We estimate the extent to which changes in the distribution of child nutritional status can be explained by changes in the level and distribution of income, and of other covariates. This is done using data from the 1993 and 1998 Vietnam Living Standards Surveys and a flexible decomposition technique based on quantile regression that explains change throughout the complete distribution of child height. One-half of the decrease in the proportion of children stunted is explained by changes in the distributions of covariates and 35% is explained by change in the distribution of income. Covariates, including income, explain less of the decrease in very severe. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.