Can irrigation mitigate the impacts of weather shocks on child health? Evidence from household-level irrigation adoption in India [with Eeshani Kandpal (World Bank Group) and Kathy Baylis (University of Illinois)]:
Although India is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, improvements in child health have not kept pace with this economic growth. While many factors can contribute to poor child health, studies have shown that rainfall and temperature shocks during fetal and early-life development are important determinants in a variety of developing country contexts. Adoption of irrigation practices is one way that a household can mitigate the impacts of weather shocks on crop output. In this project, we collect empirical evidence on whether past adoption of irrigation technologies by households in India is correlated with improvements in child health metrics such as birth weight, infant mortality, and child stunting.
