The Origins of Early Childhood Anthropometric Persistence / Daniel L. Millimet, Rusty Tchernis.

By:

Millimet, Daniel L

Contributor(s):

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w19554.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2013.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

Online resources:

Available additional physical forms:

Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers

Abstract: Rates of childhood obesity have increased dramatically in the last few decades. Non-causal evidence suggests that childhood obesity is highly persistent over the life cycle. However little in known about the origins of this persistence. In this paper we attempt to answer three questions. First, how do anthropometric measures evolve from birth through primary school? Second, what is the causal effect of past anthropometric outcomes on future anthropometric outcomes? In other words, how important is state dependence in the evolution of anthropometric measures during the early part of the life cycle. Third, how important are time-varying and time invariant factors in the dynamics of childhood anthropometric measures? We find that anthropometric measures are highly persistent from infancy through primary school. Moreover, most of this persistence is driven by unobserved, time invariant factors that are determined prior to birth, consistent with the so-called fetal origins hypothesis. As such, policy interventions designed to improve child anthropometric status will only have meaningful, long-run effects if these time invariant factors are altered. Unfortunately, future research is needed to identify such factors, although evidence suggests that maternal nutrition may play an important role.

Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Working Paper	Biblioteca Digital	Colección NBER	nber w19554 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

Total holds: 0

October 2013.

Rates of childhood obesity have increased dramatically in the last few decades. Non-causal evidence suggests that childhood obesity is highly persistent over the life cycle. However little in known about the origins of this persistence. In this paper we attempt to answer three questions. First, how do anthropometric measures evolve from birth through primary school? Second, what is the causal effect of past anthropometric outcomes on future anthropometric outcomes? In other words, how important is state dependence in the evolution of anthropometric measures during the early part of the life cycle. Third, how important are time-varying and time invariant factors in the dynamics of childhood anthropometric measures? We find that anthropometric measures are highly persistent from infancy through primary school. Moreover, most of this persistence is driven by unobserved, time invariant factors that are determined prior to birth, consistent with the so-called fetal origins hypothesis. As such, policy interventions designed to improve child anthropometric status will only have meaningful, long-run effects if these time invariant factors are altered. Unfortunately, future research is needed to identify such factors, although evidence suggests that maternal nutrition may play an important role.