Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP16163
Authors: Timothy Hatton; Minhee Chae; Xin Meng
Abstract: This paper explores the changing trend of adult height in China for cohorts born in 1950-90.We use information on the household structure and local economic conditions during theindividual's childhood to explain the trend. We find that during the 40-year period, thegrowth rate of adult height increased, with the most substantial increase occurring in the1980s. One important contributing factor to the growth of adult height is the continuedincrease in government per capita spending on health and education. The impressive growthin the 1980s was mainly due to the introduction of market-oriented economic reforms, ratherthan the advent of the One-Child Policy. We find that the positive effect of economic reformswas larger for urban dwellers than for their rural counterparts and within the rural areas thebenefit was far greater for men than for women.
Keywords: height; china; economic reform
JEL Codes: I15; I18; J13; O1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Economic reforms (E69) | Height (Y10) |
| Government spending on health and education (H51) | Height (Y10) |
| Local economic conditions (R11) | Height (Y10) |
| Agricultural output (Q11) | Height (Y10) |
| Industrial output (L69) | Height (Y10) |
| One-child policy (J13) | Height (Y10) |
| Son preference (J19) | Height disparities (I14) |
| Economic reforms (E69) | Height (urban) (R28) |
| Economic reforms (E69) | Height (rural) (R29) |
| Economic conditions (ages 0-3) (J13) | Height (Y10) |