The Nutritional Returns to Parental Education

24 Pages Posted: 7 Jan 2015

See all articles by Harold Alderman

Harold Alderman

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Derek D. Headey

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Date Written: November 6, 2014

Abstract

Though parental education is widely perceived to be an important determinant of child nutrition outcomes, there remain significant uncertainties about whether maternal or paternal education matters most, whether there are increasing or decreasing returns to parental education, and whether these returns are robust given that recent gains in enrollment have not always translated into commensurate gains in learning outcomes. In this paper we investigate these questions through a statistical analysis of child growth data for approximately 99,000 children in 19 countries with some of the highest burdens of undernutrition. Pooling across countries, we find that maternal education yields larger returns than paternal education, although for both sexes positive returns generally only appear with secondary education. Nevertheless, country-specific regressions still show some diversity in these relationships, suggesting that there may be context specificity at work. That caveat notwithstanding, the results generally provide a nutritional justification for promoting secondary education for girls above and beyond any encouragement for boys.

Keywords: Children, Education, Nutrition, Malnutrition, Undernutrition, Stunting, Parental Education, Parents

Suggested Citation

Alderman, Harold and Headey, Derek D., The Nutritional Returns to Parental Education (November 6, 2014). IFPRI Discussion Paper 01379, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2523574

Harold Alderman (Contact Author)

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ( email )

1201 Eye St, NW,
Washington, DC 20005
United States

Derek D. Headey

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ( email )

1201 Eye St, NW,
Washington, DC 20005
United States

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