Work

Sweet Child of Mine: Parental Income, Child Health and Inequality

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: How to allocate limited resources among children is a crucial household decision, especially in developing countries where it can have strong implications for children and family survival. We provide the first large-scale study linking variations in parental income in the early life of children to subsequent child health and parental investments across siblings in developing countries, using data from multiple waves of the Demographic and Health Surveys spanning fifty-four countries. Variations in the world prices of locally suitable crops are used as measures of local income. We find that children born in periods of higher income receive better health investments and display persistently higher levels of health than their siblings. Children whose siblings were born during favourable income periods receive less investment and exhibit worse health. These findings are consistent with a model of sibling rivalry where parents invest in the child with the highest returns and complementarities in investment across periods. We also provide evidence that other investments (education, parental time use and child labour) react to sibling rivalry. Our results suggest that income shocks can enlarge disparities within households.

Source: The Economic Journal

DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaf036

Authors: Nicolas Berman, Lorenzo Rotunno, Roberta Ziparo

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques, Centre for Economic Policy Research, International Monetary Fund

Language: English

Topic: Income, Poverty, and Inequality

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, No poverty, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: Agence Nationale de la Recherche