title: On hunger and child mortality in India.
abstract: Despite accelerated growth there is pervasive hunger, child undernutrition and mortality in India. Our analysis focuses on their determinants. Raising living standards alone will not reduce hunger and undernutrition. Reduction of rural/urban disparities, income inequality, consumer price stabilization, and mothers’ literacy all have roles of varying importance in different nutrition indicators. Somewhat surprisingly, public distribution system (PDS) do not have a significant effect on any of them. Generally, child undernutrition and mortality rise with poverty. Our analysis confirms that media exposure triggers public action, and helps avert child undernutrition and mortality. Drastic reduction of economic inequality is in fact key to averting child mortality, conditional upon a drastic reordering of social and economic arrangements.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, and University of Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Raghav
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gaiha
authors.forename: Vani S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.forename: Manoj K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: Katsushi S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Imai
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D046688:Child Mortality / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004493:Education / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005190:Family / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger / Q000208:ethnology / Q000502:physiology; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D007223:Infant; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history; D011203:Poverty / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D012923:Social Class / Q000266:history; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors / Q000266:history