Volume 23, Number 4 (Fall) 1988
Rosenzweig, Mark R. and Kenneth I. Wolpin. 1988. "Heterogeneity, Intrafamily Distribution, and Child Health." Journal of Human Resources 23(4):437-461.
This paper outlines a simple dynamic model of child health incorporating uncertainty to demonstrate the complexity of household decision rules concerning the allocation of resources to and across children when there is variation in child traits within the family and in healthiness across families. Empirical results informed by the model indicate that parental behavior responds to unanticipated health outcomes among children and is also significantly associated with more persistent health factors that vary across families. As a consequence, estimates of child health effects of parental decisions, or the fertility effects of child mortality that ignore the behavioral consequences of interfamily and intrafamily heterogeneity are biased.
The authors are professors of economics at the University of Minnesota. This research was supported in part through a contract from the Agency for International Development. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent those of the Agency. The authors are grateful to the referees for their useful comments.
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