Mitigating Long-run Health Effects of Drought: Evidence from South Africa / Taryn Dinkelman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dinkelman, Taryn.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w19756.

NBER working paper series no. w19756

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Mitigating Long-run Health Effects of Drought

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2013.

Summary:

Drought is Africa's primary natural disaster and a pervasive source of income risk for poor households. This paper documents the long-run health effects of early life exposure to drought and investigates an important source of heterogeneity in these effects. Combining birth cohort variation in South African Census data with cross-sectional and temporal drought variation, I estimate long-run health impacts of drought exposure among Africans confined to homelands during apartheid. Drought exposure in early childhood significantly raises later life male disability rates by 4% and reduces cohort size. Among a subset of homelands - the TBVC areas - disability effects are double and negative cohort effects are significantly larger. I show that differences in spatial mobility restrictions that influence the extent of migrant networks across TBVC and non-TBVC areas contribute to this heterogeneity. Placebo checks show no differential disability impacts of drought exposure across TBVC and non-TBVC areas after the repeal of migration restrictions. The results show that although drought has significant long-run effects on health human capital, migrant networks in poor economies provide one channel through which families mitigate these negative impacts of local environmental shock.

Notes:

Print version record

December 2013.