There is mounting evidence indicating that the aging process initiates during early life stages, with in utero the individual's environment playing a significant role. Consequently, it is crucial to understand the enduring effects of early life circumstances on health in old age. In this study,...

Demographic crises and famines were recurring phenomena in China before the mid-20th century, with the Great Leap Forward Famine of 1959-61 often regarded as the last and one of the most severe in Chinese History. This article delves into the repercussions of the Great Flood of 1975 in Henan...

We study the influence of social norms in determining the impact of early life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 on gender inequality. We model how social norms interact with adverse shocks to affect male and female survival chances and influence subsequent human capital...

Since the advent of British rule in 1765, the colony of Bengal, once hailed as the most fertile and prosperous region of India, witnessed numerous incidents of food shortages. Apart from the supply and demand side factors are typically associated with a food shortage at an escalated or...

Can the effects of early childhood trauma persist across generations, impacting the long-run outcomes of their children? To answer this question, we exploit the geographic variation in the intensity of the Great Famine in China and distinguish the effects of exposures during four stages of...

Explanations for the West's escape from premature mortality have focused on chronic malnutrition or income and on public health or state capacity. We argue that by ignoring the multigenerational effects of variance in ancestors' harvests, we are underestimating the contribution of modern...

This report proposes a framework in tagging nutrition expenditures of national government agencies. The framework was developed through exhaustive literature review and validation sessions with government agencies. It comprised of five levels (5) of classification elements namely: major...

Armed conflict remains a significant global issue, with several studies highlighting its detrimental impact on the affected communities, making it a critical area of research. This study aimed to examine the effects of prolonged armed conflict on food security among urban households in Tigray,...

This study is the first to establish a chronology of food crises in Germany from the sixteenth century to their disappearance in the late 1860s based on a standard methodology to detect cycles in commodity prices. To this end, we develop an aggregate rye price series, deflate it by a consumer...

In 2015, Southern Africa experienced a drought that affected approximately 30 million people across seven countries. Using a nationally representative household panel survey dataset and a remotely sensed measure of drought intensity during the 2015/16 farming season, we rigorously estimate the...

We provide the first estimates of broad-based health transmission between parents and their young children in India. The correlations between maternal health and child health outcomes - such as anemia, stunting, and body mass index - are approximately 0.20. When aggregating these health measures...

Can digital payments help reduce extreme hunger? Humanitarian needs are at their highest since 1945, aid budgets are falling behind, and hunger is concentrating in fragile states where repression and aid diversion present major obstacles. In such contexts, partnering directly with governments is...

Rahman et al. (2021) study the correlation between mental health and food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. They report that food insecurity increases in the sample and that this is associated with increased stress. This result is not reproducible from the author-provided...

This paper reviews the latest evidence of the effects of early life circumstances on old-age health, distinguishing in utero exposures from childhood exposures to a wide range of environments. We then leverage the growing number of studies of the impact of the Great Chinese Famine (1959-1961) on...

There is mounting evidence indicating that the aging process initiates during early life stages, with in utero the individual's environment playing a significant role. Consequently, it is crucial to comprehend the enduring effects of early life circumstances on health in old age. In this study,...

There is mounting evidence indicating that the aging process initiates during early life stages, with in utero the individual's environment playing a significant role. Consequently, it is crucial to understand the enduring effects of early life circumstances on health in old age. In this study,...

This book examines international aid in North Korea, in particular the ongoing policy of withholding aid, through the lens of the impact on the general population to present an argument for sustainable development. Focusing on the human rights of North Koreans and presenting a case for the use...

We study the influence of social norms in determining the impact of early life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 on gender inequality. We model how social norms interact with adverse shocks to affect male and female survival chances and influence subsequent human capital...

Demographic crises and famines were recurring phenomena in China before the mid-20th century, with the Great Leap Forward Famine of 1959-61 often regarded as the last and one of the most severe in Chinese History. This article delves into the repercussions of the Great Flood of 1975 in Henan...

Since the advent of British rule in 1765, the colony of Bengal, once hailed as the most fertile and prosperous region of India, witnessed numerous incidents of food shortages. Apart from the supply and demand side factors are typically associated with a food shortage at an escalated or...

This paper examines country and region-specific determinants of childhood undernutrition in the Sahel which, if integrated into nutrition action, could accelerate progress in the region. Additionally, this research includes the analysis of determinants that have not previously been examined...

When traditional measures for material conditions are scarce or unreliable, body mass, height, and weight are complements to standard income and wealth measures. A persistent question in welfare studies is the 19th century's 2nd and 3rd quarter's stature diminution, a pattern known as the...

Using recently discovered archival data, this article studies the changes in the Soviet population and the urbanization patterns after the 1933 famine. It documents that, although most of the direct victims lived in the rural areas, the famine is associated with a persistent negative change in...

Understanding the economic costs attributable to unhealthy diets is crucial to inform health and agrifood investments in low- and middle-income countries experiencing nutrition transition. To review the current evidence on the association between diet quality and economic costs in low- and...

Background Currently, food price inflation is a widespread issue in Bangladesh as well as the rest of the world. Malnutrition is a common issue among children that can have long-lasting effects on their development and overall health. There have been lots of studies conducted to identify the...

Child malnutrition and low-quality diets remain widespread public health problems in sub-Saharan Africa. Providing access to nutritious and healthy foods for all is key, but it is not at all clear how this can be achieved in various local contexts. Here, we analyze the role of markets and food...