title: A model of child nutrition, fertility, and women's time allocation:  the case of Nicaragua.
abstract: "This study had two main goals.  The first was to test the hypothesis that women who work in the informal sector of the labor force have better-nourished children, ceteris paribus, than women who work in the formal sector.  A simple home production model for child nutrition incorporating this hypothesis was specified and the behavior of a utility-maximizing household investigated.  The empirical estimates of the nutritional status production function provided no convincing support for the hypothesis."  The second goal was "to investigate the joint determinants of child nutrition and of women's fertility and work choices....[It is suggested] that increases in women's education and formal sector wages will induce declines in fertility and improvements in child nutrition.  Increases in informal sector wages will improve nutrition but have little impact on fertility, and income effects are minimal on all three variables."  Data are from a household survey conducted in Nicaragua in 1977 and 1978.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Blau
mesh_terms: D000569:Americas; D001519:Behavior; D002489:Central America; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002669:Child Welfare; D003657:Decision Making; D003710:Demography; D019049:Developed Countries; D003906:Developing Countries; D004467:Economics; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005298:Fertility; D006262:Health; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006280:Health Workforce; D007182:Income; D007843:Latin America; D018803:Models, Economic; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009527:Nicaragua; D009656:North America; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009790:Occupations; D011153:Population; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012106:Research; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Americas; Behavior; Central America; Child Health; Child Nutrition; Decision Making; Demographic Factors; Developed Countries; Developing Countries; Economic Factors; Economic Model; Educational Status--women; Employment Status--women; Family And Household; Family Characteristics; Family Size; Family Size, Ideal; Fertility; Health; Health Status Indexes; Households; Human Resources; Income; Labor Force--women; Latin America; Macroeconomic Factors; Models, Theoretical; Nicaragua; North America; Nutrition; Occupations; Population; Population Dynamics; Research Methodology; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic Status; Time Factors; Wages