Is Consanguinity an Impediment to Improving Human Development Outcomes?
This paper uses unique data collected in rural Pakistan to assess the extent to which consanguinity, which is widespread in North Africa, Central and West Asia, and most parts of South Asia, is linked to child cognitive ability and nutritional stat...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/887611495655329951/Is-consanguinity-an-impediment-to-improving-human-development-outcomes http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26846 |
| Summary: | This paper uses unique data collected in
rural Pakistan to assess the extent to which consanguinity,
which is widespread in North Africa, Central and West Asia,
and most parts of South Asia, is linked to child cognitive
ability and nutritional status. As economic benefits of
marrying cousins may lead to upward bias in estimates of the
effects of consanguinity on child outcomes, prior work
likely underestimates the negative impacts of consanguinity
on child outcomes. This paper finds that children born into
consanguineous marriages have lower test scores, lower
height-for-age, and a higher likelihood of being severely
stunted. After controlling for current household wealth and
parent education, the effects of endogenous consanguinity on
child cognitive ability and height-for-age are identified by
(current and past) grandfather land ownership and maternal
grandparent mortality as instruments for consanguineous
marriage of parents. |
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