Addressing Harmful Social Norms under Economic Constraints: The impact of weather shocks on the efficiency of child marriage bans (JMP)
Abstract: Despite legal bans, child marriage remains a prevalent issue. In regions practicing the bride price, marriage involves a transfer from the husband's to the wife's family, so poor and vulnerable households can use child marriage as a coping mechanism to face negative shocks, preponing the union of their daughter to receive the payment earlier and smooth consumption. Hence, the difficult enforcement of bans is maybe more a matter of ability than willingness to obey the law. Are the individuals who respond to child marriage bans those who can financially afford it? To respond to this question, I use a DID-like approach to study the response to the child marriage bans in Africa, depending on exogenous income shocks approximated by weather shocks. I find that if the child marriage bans succeeded in lowering child marriage, droughts significantly decreased the effectiveness of this ban in regions practicing the bride price. When there is no drought during the adolescence of girls, bans are effective in rural areas practicing the bride price - but not when droughts occur.
Presented at: Summer School in Development Economics (June 2023, Prato, Italy) ; PhD seminar of DIAL (October 2023, Paris) ; Junior Workshop of ENS Lyon (November 2023, Lyon) ; Ninth Research Workshop of Paris 1-FEPS 2024 (November 2023, Paris) , Gender Issues and Development Workshop of Paris-Nanterre University (December 2023, Paris) ; European Winter Meeting of The Econometric Society (December 2023, Manchester) ; LEAP internal seminar (February 2024, Milan, Italy) ; Bocconi PhD seminar (February 2024, Milan, Italy) ; EUI Microeconometrics Working Group (March 2024, Florence, Italy) ; Oxford CSAE Conference (March 2024, Oxford, UK)
Does local economic wealth trickle down and improve maternal and child health?
Abstract: Is growth a sufficient condition to improve health outcomes? Women have more control over their fertility, use more maternal health services, and their children show better health status in wealthier countries, areas, and households. We know less about how these characteristics evolve with local economic development and know even less about the pathways at stake. I use nighttime light within cells of 0.5x0.5 degrees to measure local economic activity and link this indicator to individual health outcomes in 10 sub-Saharan African countries to document how health evolved between 1998 and 2018 across different economic development dynamics. These estimations are the first to observe the relationship between local economic development, approximated by nighttime light, and the evolution of health outcomes over time. Fertility decreases with economic development. Access to maternal health services, vaccination, and illness improve with economic development, but fewer illnesses do not translate into better anthropometric outcomes. Isolating the effect of public investment from households' financial capacities, I find that improvements in the public health environment mainly drive the relationship between economic development and health. In conclusion, does local economic development trickle down and improve health? Yes, but seemingly through the active redistribution of wealth through public investment.
Presented at: PhD Workshop Dauphine-Mines 2022 ; JMA 2022 ; LAGV 2022 ; AFSE 2022 ; Shifting Landscapes LSE 2022 ; PhD Workshop RHUL 2022 ; and Cornell Conference on 100 Years of Economic Development 2022.
Son preference, malleability and roots in West Africa, joint with Elise Huillery and Olivia Bertelli (Université Paris-Dauphine/PSL Research University, DIAL).
Publications
Niranjan Sarangi, Alaaldin Mohammed Alameri, Mathilde Lesueur, Rayan Akill (2019). Macro-Fiscal Policy toward Economic Diversification and Employment Generation in Iraq. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). E/ESCWA/EDID/2019/CP.1. https://www.unescwa.org/sites/default/files/pubs/pdf/l1900993.pdf