One explanation for the increasing prevalence of stunting in South Africa over the past 15 years while other development indicators have improved is that Big Food retail chains have been contributing to a low quality diet across the country, particularly in poor urban households. We thus use...

Participating in and presenting gifts at funerals, weddings, and other ceremonies held by friends and neighbors have been regarded as social norms in many parts of the world for thousands of years. However, due to the reciprocal nature of gift giving, it is more burdensome for the poor to take...

It is increasingly recognized that urbanization is accompanied by profound changes in African diets. Some studies hold the hope that urbanization will help eradicate hunger and undernourishment, both still prominent issues in the region. Others have warned that urbanization may actually shift...

One explanation for the increasing prevalence of stunting in South Africa over the past 15 years while other development indicators have improved is that Big Food retail chains have been contributing to a low quality diet across the country, particularly in poor urban households. We thus use...

Participating in and presenting gifts at funerals, weddings, and other ceremonies held by friends and neighbors have been regarded as social norms in many parts of the world for thousands of years. However, due to the reciprocal nature of gift giving, it is more burdensome for the poor to take...

This paper provides evidence of effectiveness for performance pay among government caregivers to improve child health in India. In a controlled study of 160 daycare centers serving over 4,000 children, we randomly assign individual workers to receive either fixed bonuses or incentive payments...

This paper provides evidence for informational spillovers within urban slums in Chandigarh, India. I identify three groups, a treatment group, a neighboring spillover group, and a non-adjacent pure control group. Mothers of children (aged 3-6 years) enrolled in government day-care centers are...

Undernourishment is still widespread in Tanzania, while obesity is becoming an issue of magnitude similar to undernutrition in the country. In this paper we examined the impact of an increase in maize prices on the nutritional status of Tanzania's adult population. We found that undernutrition...

The lecture paper focuses on some topics that remain current in famine studies. First, it reviews the link between food prices and the severity of famines as reflected in excess mortality. Second, it places the death tolls from several recent famines in sub-Saharan Africa in historical context....

This paper provides evidence of effectiveness for performance pay among government caregivers to improve child health in India. In a controlled study of 160 daycare centers serving over 4,000 children, we randomly assign individual workers to receive either fixed bonuses or incentive payments...

This paper provides evidence for informational spillovers within urban slums in Chandigarh, India. I identify three groups, a treatment group, a neighboring spillover group, and a non-adjacent pure control group. Mothers of children (aged 3-6 years) enrolled in government day-care centers are...

Undernourishment is still widespread in Tanzania, while obesity is becoming an issue of magnitude similar to undernutrition in the country. In this paper we examined the impact of an increase in maize prices on the nutritional status of Tanzania's adult population. We found that undernutrition...

This paper therefore analyzes agriculture and nutrition linkages in Bangladesh, a country that achieved rapid growth in rice productivity at a relatively late stage in Asia’s Green Revolution, as well as unheralded progress against undernutrition. To do so the authors create a synthetic...

This paper examines the impact of potential fetal malnutrition on the academic proficiency of Muslim students in Denmark. We account for the endogeneity of fetal malnutrition by using the exposure to the month of Ramadan during time in utero as a natural experiment, under the assumption that...

We report evidence of long-term adverse health impacts of in utero exposure to malnutrition based on survivors in their 50s who were born during the China Famine that occurred in the years 1959-1961. We take advantage of recently available data provided by the China Health and Retirement...

Through its multidimensionality, energy access actively contributes to the achievements of several Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and especially MDG3 which aims at promoting gender equity and women empowerment. Lack of access to energy is a major issue for women in rural areas since it...

According to the current report on the Millennium Development Goals (UN 2015), the share of undernourished people living in the developing world has fallen from 23.3% in 1990-1992 to 12.9% in 2014-2016 (projection). Despite this progress towards global food security, about 795 million people...

Jahrzehntelang haben Unter- und Mangelernährung auf der globalen entwicklungspolitischen Agenda wenig Beachtung erfahren. Oft waren nur extreme Hungersnöte in den Schlagzeilen zu finden. Dies hat sich mit der Verabschiedung der Millennium Entwicklungsziele im Jahr 2000 geändert: Gleich das...

There is widespread interest in estimating the number of hungry people in the world and trends in hunger. Current global counts rely on combining each country's total food balance with information on distribution patterns from household consumption expenditure surveys. Recent research has...

An analysis of data from six countries showed that adolescent childbearing is closely tied to marital status. Around half (ranging from 42 percent in Nepal to 55 percent in Nigeria) of ever-married adolescent women have given birth. In comparison, non-marital adolescent childbearing is rare in...

This paper examines the impact of potential fetal malnutrition on the academic proficiency of Muslim students in Denmark. We account for the endogeneity of fetal malnutrition by using the exposure to the month of Ramadan during time in utero as a natural experiment, under the assumption that...

We report evidence of long-term adverse health impacts of in utero exposure to malnutrition based on survivors in their 50s who were born during the China Famine that occurred in the years 1959-1961. We take advantage of recently available data provided by the China Health and Retirement...

Much of the world’s chronically poor and malnourished population lives in an increasingly volatile world. The dangerous nexus of climate change, rapid population growth, conflict, and economic stagnation has already pushed several poor regions into states of permanent crisis, even as the...