Protecting Child Nutritional Status in the Aftermath of a Financial Crisis : Evidence from Indonesia

In response to concerns over the vulnerability of the young in the wake of Indonesia's 1997–1998 economic crises, the Government of Indonesia implemented a supplementary feeding program to support early childhood nutritional status. This paper exploits heterogeneity in duration of program expos...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Giles, John, Satriawan, Elan
Format: Journal Article
Language:en_US
Published: Elsevier 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21417
Description
Summary:In response to concerns over the vulnerability of the young in the wake of Indonesia's 1997–1998 economic crises, the Government of Indonesia implemented a supplementary feeding program to support early childhood nutritional status. This paper exploits heterogeneity in duration of program exposure to evaluate the impact of the program on children aged 6 to 60 months. By examining differences in nutritional status of treated younger children and a placebo group of older children, the analysis finds that the program improved the nutritional status of treated children, and most significantly, led to 7 and 15% declines in rates of moderate and severe stunting, respectively, for children aged 12 to 24 months who were exposed to the program for at least 12 months over two years.