|
“Covid-19 Lockdown and Neonatal Mortality: Evidence from India” with E. Asker and A. Shonchoy Using nationally representative data from India, we document the first survey-based evidence of the unintended consequences of lockdown on neonatal mortality in a developing country. Event-study shows neonatal mortality significantly increased during the first nationwide lockdown and became insignificant one-month later. The difference-indifference estimates show neonatal mortality increased to 47 from 30 per 1,000 births during the lockdown. Negative in-utero exposure, forgone healthcare, and delaying vaccinations are crucial impact mechanisms. Our findings stimulate the debate on the efficacy of strict lockdown, its duration, and missing policy directives in developing countries. “Rapid Economic Growth but Rising Poverty Segregation: Will Vietnam Meet the SDGs for Equitable Development?” with H. Dang, M. Do, C. Nguyen, and O. Pimhidzai Vietnam is widely regarded as a success story for its impressive economic growth and poverty reduction in the last few decades. Yet, recent evidence indicates that the country’s economic growth has not been uniform. Compiling and analyzing new extensive province-level data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys (VHLSSs) for every alternate year between 2002 and 2020 and other data sources, we find within-province inequality to be much larger than between-province inequality. Furthermore, this inequality gap is rising over time. Despite the country’s fast poverty reduction, the poor were increasingly segregated in certain provinces. We find beneficial impact of economic growth on poverty reduction, but this can depend on inequality levels. We also find greater inequality to have negative impact on economic growth and poverty reduction. Our results suggest that policy makers in Vietnam should focus on reducing spatial disparities and income inequality in order to attain sustainable economic development. “Multidimensional Economic Hardships during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States” with E. Asker and R. Bulkunde In this paper, we measure multidimensional hardships experienced by Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use a unique household survey data between 2018 and 2021 to compile information on self-reported economic hardships such as the inability to pay bills or afford health care, unemployment, and experiencing financial strain. We combine the household survey data with state-level data on lockdown measures. We find that a stricter lockdown was associated with a greater number of “Impact of Drought on Children’s Educational Outcomes” with I. Spyrou Droughts have become more frequent and more intense in countries across the world. In this study, we assess the impact of droughts on children’s well-being. We combine a rich panel data set on 2000 school-aged children with monthly rainfall data in Ethiopia between 2009 and 2017. We find that droughts decrease the probability that a child will remain enrolled in school by more than 36%. Among children who remain enrolled, droughts adversely affect their grade progression. These children suffered from high food insecurity. Girls, in particular, were at a greater risk of being malnourished and stunted. With the onset of a drought, children spent more time on paid activities and less time on sleep. Overall droughts had a significant negative impact on children’s overall well-being. |
|