Early Nutrition and Cognition in Peru

Arbeitspapier

This paper examines the causal link between early childhood nutrition and cognition, applying instrumental variables to sibling-differences for a sample of pre-school aged Peruvian children. Child-specific shocks in the form of food price changes and household shocks during the critical developmental period of a child are used as instruments. The analysis shows significant and positive returns to early childhood nutritional investments. An increase in the Height-for-Age z-score of one standard deviation—keeping other factors constant—translates into increases in the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) score of 17-21 percent of a standard deviation. The period of analysis includes the recent global food price crisis that also affected Peru between 2006 and 2008. This therefore is also a quantification of the nutritional and subsequent cognitive costs of food prices on the sample, which could be magnified in later years.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IDB Working Paper Series ; No. IDB-WP-241

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health Behavior ; Education and Research Institutions: General ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Outes-Leon, Ingo ; Porter, Catherine ; Sanchez, Alan
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
• (where): Washington, DC
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/89100
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET