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EARLY-CHILDHOOD NUTRITION, SCHOOLING, AND SIBLING INEQUALITY 69


The next section describes the model. Human capital accumulation is modeled as a sequential process in which health is formed at an early stage and schooling investment is undertaken depending on health outcomes. Both health and knowledge (education) capital determine earnings in the labor market. The section on data discusses econometric issues, focusing on speci- fication and identification strategy.


Data and variables are described in the section “Outcomes at the Early Stage of Schooling.” To measure schooling outcomes, I use the 2004 KwaZulu- Natal Income Dynamics Study (round 3), which collected individual-level infor- mation such as enrollment, age schooling started, grade completed, grades repeated, and expenditures from children aged 7–20.5 To supplement the main analysis, the survey also used the results of simple mathematics tests given to children aged 7–9 to measure their learning performance. Therefore, combined with the information on nutrition and health outcomes for children aged 1–5 available in the 1998 survey, I can investigate the effect of early- childhood nutrition on schooling investments and outcomes of children aged 6 years and above. One advantage of focusing on the early stages of schooling is the high enrollment rate at the primary school level, which minimizes a selectivity problem arising from time allocation decisions for children at later stages of schooling.


The section “Outcomes at the Later Stage of Schooling” summarizes empirical results. First, data for siblings showing the effects of nutrition (as indicated by height) on the age schooling started and the grade completed demonstrate that for the majority, children of normal height (as measured by


tification strategy is based on findings that under credit-constrained circumstances, income shocks (such as drought and flood) change consumption, which affects child growth (Foster 1995; Hoddinott and Kinsey 2001). Glewwe, Jacoby, and King (2001) take a similar approach to sibling estimation, using longitudinal data on Filipino children, but their identification strategy uses information on older siblings when the child was younger than 3 years. Alderman et al. (2000) use price data, interacted with parents’ education and child gender, as an instrument for child height growth in Pakistan. This chapter uses information on the availability of healthcare personnel in sample communities in 1993, right before most children in the 1998 sample were born. During South Africa’s transition to a democratic nation, the government implemented pro- poor interventions in the health sector by building healthcare facilities and increasing the num- bers of healthcare personnel. Our identification strategy uses these post-apartheid dynamics,


captured by age (birth year), which differ across differently endowed communities. 5 The survey is representative in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, which has the largest popu- lation in the country. We do not have any reason for attributing our findings specifically to education systems in the province and the Zulu families in particular. For political reasons, however, this province experienced more violent turmoil than other provinces during the tran- sition from apartheid to democracy, which delayed the implementation of the first national democratic election to 1995. This situation might have more adversely affected schooling behavior among children who entered school during the transition period in KwaZulu-Natal than in other provinces.


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