Natural disasters, self-Insurance, and human capital investment: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi

This paper uses panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi to examine the impacts of disasters on dynamic human capital production. Our empirical results show that accumulation of biological human capital prior to a disaster helps children maintain investments during the post-disaster period....

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Main Authors: Yamauchi, Futoshi, Yohannes, Yisehac, Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161923
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author Yamauchi, Futoshi
Yohannes, Yisehac
Quisumbing, Agnes R.
author_browse Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Yamauchi, Futoshi
Yohannes, Yisehac
author_facet Yamauchi, Futoshi
Yohannes, Yisehac
Quisumbing, Agnes R.
author_sort Yamauchi, Futoshi
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description This paper uses panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi to examine the impacts of disasters on dynamic human capital production. Our empirical results show that accumulation of biological human capital prior to a disaster helps children maintain investments during the post-disaster period. Biological human capital formed in early childhood (for example, good long-term nutritional status) helps insure resilience to disasters by protecting schooling investments and outcomes, even though disasters have negative impacts on the actual investments (for example, by destroying schools). In Bangladesh, children with more biological human capital are less adversely affected by flood, and the rate of investment increases with the initial human capital stock during the post-disaster recovery process. In Ethiopia and Malawi, where droughts are relatively frequent, repeated drought exposure reduces schooling investments in some cases, with larger negative impacts seen among children who embody less biological human capital. Asset holdings prior to disaster (especially intellectual human capital stock in the household) also help maintain schooling investments to at least the same degree as the stock of human capital accumulated in the children prior to the disaster. Our results suggest that as the frequency of natural disasters increases due to global warming, the insurance value of investments in child nutrition will increase. Public investments in child nutrition therefore have the potential to effectively protect long-term human capital formation among children who are vulnerable to natural disasters.
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spelling CGSpace1619232025-11-06T07:17:53Z Natural disasters, self-Insurance, and human capital investment: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi Yamauchi, Futoshi Yohannes, Yisehac Quisumbing, Agnes R. disasters human capital nutrition educational policies insurance poverty alleviation social protection shock assets education This paper uses panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi to examine the impacts of disasters on dynamic human capital production. Our empirical results show that accumulation of biological human capital prior to a disaster helps children maintain investments during the post-disaster period. Biological human capital formed in early childhood (for example, good long-term nutritional status) helps insure resilience to disasters by protecting schooling investments and outcomes, even though disasters have negative impacts on the actual investments (for example, by destroying schools). In Bangladesh, children with more biological human capital are less adversely affected by flood, and the rate of investment increases with the initial human capital stock during the post-disaster recovery process. In Ethiopia and Malawi, where droughts are relatively frequent, repeated drought exposure reduces schooling investments in some cases, with larger negative impacts seen among children who embody less biological human capital. Asset holdings prior to disaster (especially intellectual human capital stock in the household) also help maintain schooling investments to at least the same degree as the stock of human capital accumulated in the children prior to the disaster. Our results suggest that as the frequency of natural disasters increases due to global warming, the insurance value of investments in child nutrition will increase. Public investments in child nutrition therefore have the potential to effectively protect long-term human capital formation among children who are vulnerable to natural disasters. 2009 2024-11-21T09:59:30Z 2024-11-21T09:59:30Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161923 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Yamauchi, Futoshi; Yohannes, Yisehac; Quisumbing, Agnes R. 2009. Natural disasters, self-Insurance, and human capital investment. IFPRI Discussion Paper 881. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161923
spellingShingle disasters
human capital
nutrition
educational policies
insurance
poverty alleviation
social protection
shock
assets
education
Yamauchi, Futoshi
Yohannes, Yisehac
Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Natural disasters, self-Insurance, and human capital investment: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi
title Natural disasters, self-Insurance, and human capital investment: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi
title_full Natural disasters, self-Insurance, and human capital investment: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi
title_fullStr Natural disasters, self-Insurance, and human capital investment: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi
title_full_unstemmed Natural disasters, self-Insurance, and human capital investment: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi
title_short Natural disasters, self-Insurance, and human capital investment: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi
title_sort natural disasters self insurance and human capital investment evidence from bangladesh ethiopia and malawi
topic disasters
human capital
nutrition
educational policies
insurance
poverty alleviation
social protection
shock
assets
education
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161923
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AT quisumbingagnesr naturaldisastersselfinsuranceandhumancapitalinvestmentevidencefrombangladeshethiopiaandmalawi