Mother's education is of ten found to be positively correlated with child health and nutrition in developing countries, yet the causal mechanisms are poorly understood. Three possible mechanisms are: (1) Formal education directly teaches health knowledge to future mothers; (2) Literacy and numeracy skills acquired in school assist future mothers in diagnosing and treating child health problems; and (3) Exposure to modern society from formal schooling makes women more receptive to modern medical treatments. This paper uses data from Morocco to assess the role played by these different mechanisms. Mother's health knowledge alone appears to be the crucial skill for raising child health. In Morocco, such knowledge is primarily obtained outside the classroom, although it is obtained using literacy and numeracy skills learned in school; there is no evidence that health knowledge is directly taught in schools. This suggests that teaching of health knowledge skills in Moroccan schools could substantially raise child health and nutrition in Morocco.

Paul Glewwe is a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group at the The World Bank. He would like to thank Hanan Jacoby, Martin Ravallion, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on previous drafts, and Nauman Ilias for excellent computational assistance. This research was supported by a grant from the World Bank Research Committee (RPO 679-84). The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. The data used in this article can he obtained beginning May, 1999, through April, 2002, from Paul Glewwe, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433.

© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

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