Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:31:02.188Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tradeoffs between fertility and child development attributes: evidence from coral bleaching in Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2021

Pasita Chaijaroen Open the ORCID record for Pasita Chaijaroen [Opens in a new window]
Pasita Chaijaroen*
Affiliation:
Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology, Rayong, Thailand
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Coral bleaching is associated with large income shocks and a substantial decrease in protein consumption among the affected fishery households in Indonesia [Chaijaroen (2019) Long-lasting income shocks and adaptations: evidence from coral bleaching in Indonesia. Journal of Development Economics136, 119–136]. According to the health and economics literature, early childhood exposures to shocks such as those from coral bleaching can have long-lasting effects on health, schooling, and other later-life outcomes. This paper explores how the mass coral bleaching in 1998 affected household decisions on fertility and child development. Using the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) and a triple differences approach, results from 2000 suggest an increase in fertility and an increased likelihood of severe childhood stunting among the affected households. For comparison, rainfall shocks are associated with a decrease in fertility and smaller adverse effects on child health and schooling outcomes. This study suggests that the effects of coral bleaching might have been underestimated, and our findings yield more targeted policy recommendations on climate shock mitigation.

Keywords

coral bleachingshocksfertilitychild outcomes

JEL classification

Q54: Climate • Natural Disasters and Their Management • Global Warming O15: Human Resources • Human Development • Income Distribution • Migration J13: Fertility • Family Planning • Child Care • Children • Youth
Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , August 2022 , pp. 295 - 315
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aizawa, T (2020) Joint impact of the conditional cash transfer on child nutritional status and household expenditure in Indonesia. Journal of Human Capital 14, 122–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Almond, D and Currie, J (2011) Killing me softly: the fetal origins hypothesis. Journal of Economic Perspectives 25, 153–172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Almond, D, Currie, J and Duque, V (2018) Childhood circumstances and adult outcomes: Act II. Journal of Economic Literature 56, 1360–1446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anttila-Hughes, J and Hsiang, S (2013) Destruction, disinvestment, and death: economic and human losses following environmental disaster. Available at SSRN 2220501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, RSK and Hughes, RN (1999) An Introduction to Marine Ecology. Malden, MA, USA; Oxford, UK; Victoria, Australia: Blackwell Science Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, GS and Lewis, HG (1973) On the interaction between the quantity and quality of children. Journal of Political Economy 81, S279–S288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behrman, JR and Hoddinott, J (2005) Programme evaluation with unobserved heterogeneity and selective implementation: the Mexican PROGRESA impact on child nutrition. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 67, 547–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booth, DJ and Beretta, GA (2002) Changes in a fish assemblage after a coral bleaching event. Marine Ecology Progress Series 245, 205–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, B (1997) Coral bleaching: causes and consequences. Coral Reefs 16, S129–S138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, B and Suharsono, (1990) Damage and recovery of coral reefs affected by El Niño related seawater warming in the thousand islands, Indonesia. Coral Reefs 8, 163–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burke, L, Reytar, K, Spalding, M and Perry, A (2011) Reefs at Risk Revisited. Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute.Google Scholar
Burlando, A (2014 a) Power outages, power externalities, and baby booms. Demography 51, 1477–1500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burlando, A (2014 b) Transitory shocks and birth weights: evidence from a blackout in Zanzibar. Journal of Development Economics 108, 154–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahyadi, N, Hanna, R, Olken, BA, Prima, RA, Satriawan, E and Syamsulhakim, E (2020) Cumulative impacts of conditional cash transfer programs: experimental evidence from Indonesia. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 12, 88–110.Google Scholar
Chaijaroen, P (2019) Long-lasting income shocks and adaptations: evidence from coral bleaching in Indonesia. Journal of Development Economics 136, 119–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornwell, K and Inder, B (2015) Child health and rainfall in early life. The Journal of Development Studies 51, 865–880.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currie, J and Almond, D (2011) Human capital development before age five. Handbook of Labor Economics 4, 1315–1486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currie, J and Rossin-Slater, M (2013) Weathering the storm: hurricanes and birth outcomes. Journal of Health Economics 32, 487–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Currie, J and Vogl, T (2013) Early-life health and adult circumstance in developing countries. Annual Review of Economics 5, 1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daly, A and Fane, G (2002) Anti-poverty programs in Indonesia. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 38, 309–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, J (2017) Fertility after natural disaster: Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua. Population and Environment 38, 448–464.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dehejia, R and Lleras-Muney, A (2004) Booms, busts, and babies’ health. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 119, 1091–1130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dell, M, Jones, BF and Olken, BA (2014) What do we learn from the weather? The new climate–economy literature. Journal of Economic Literature 52, 740–798.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deschenes, O, Greenstone, M and Guryan, J (2009) Climate change and birth weight. American Economic Review 99, 211–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frankenberg, E and Duncan, T (2000) The Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS): study design and results from waves 1 and 2 (Technical Report DRU-2238/1-NIA/NICHD).Google Scholar
Frankenberg, E and Karoly, LA (1995) The 1993 Indonesian Family Life Survey: overview and field report (Technical Report DRU-1195/1-NICHD/NIA).Google Scholar
Garces, E, Thomas, D and Currie, J (2002) Longer-term effects of Head Start. American Economic Review 92, 999–1012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garpe, KC, Yahya, SA, Lindahl, U and Ohman, MC (2006) Long-term effects of the 1998 coral bleaching event on reef fish assemblages. Marine Ecology Progress Series 315, 237–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmour, JP, Smith, LD, Heyward, AJ, Baird, AH and Pratchett, MS (2013) Recovery of an isolated coral reef system following severe disturbance. Science 340, 69–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goreau, T, McClanahan, T, Hayes, R and Strong, A (2000) Conservation of coral reefs after the 1998 global bleaching event. Conservation Biology 14, 5–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, NA, Wilson, SK, Jennings, S, Polunin, NV, Robinson, J, Bijoux, JP and Daw, TM (2007) Lag effects in the impacts of mass coral bleaching on coral reef fish, fisheries, and ecosystems. Conservation Biology 21, 1291–1300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoddinott, J and Kinsey, B (2001) Child growth in the time of drought. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 63, 409–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoegh-Guldberg, O (1999) Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world's coral reefs. Marine and Freshwater Research 50, 839–866.Google Scholar
Hoeksema, BW (1991) Control of bleaching in mushroom coral populations (Scleractinia: Fungiidae) in the Java Sea: stress tolerance and interference by life history strategy. Marine Ecology Progress Series 74, 225–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J and Prskawetz, A (2010) External shocks, household consumption and fertility in Indonesia. Population Research and Policy Review 29, 503–526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kishore, K, Subbia, A, Sribimawati, T, Diharto, IS, Alimoeso, S, Rogers, P and Setiana, A (2000) Indonesia country study (Technical Report). Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC).Google Scholar
Kudamatsu, M, Persson, T and Strömberg, D (2012) Weather and infant mortality in Africa. CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP9222.Google Scholar
Kusuma, D, McConnell, M, Berman, P and Cohen, J (2017 a) The impact of household and community cash transfers on children's food consumption in Indonesia. Preventive Medicine 100, 152–158.Google ScholarPubMed
Kusuma, D, Thabrany, H, Hidayat, B, McConnell, M, Berman, P and Cohen, J (2017 b) New evidence on the impact of large-scale conditional cash transfers on child vaccination rates: the case of a clustered-randomized trial in Indonesia. World Development 98, 497–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maccini, S and Yang, D (2009) Under the weather: health, schooling, and economic consequences of early-life rainfall. American Economic Review 99, 1006–1026.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
NOAA (2019) Coral reef ecosystems. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Available at https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/marine-life/coral-reef-ecosystems.Google Scholar
NOAA (2021) Corals: how do coral reefs form? National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Available at https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_corals/coral04_reefs.html.Google Scholar
Sellers, S and Gray, C (2019) Climate shocks constrain human fertility in Indonesia. World Development 117, 357–369.Google ScholarPubMed
Spalding, M and Grenfell, A (1997) New estimates of global and regional coral reef areas. Coral Reefs 16, 225–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, J, Beegle, K, Sikoki, B, Dwiyanto, A, Herawati, Y and Witoelar, F (2004) The third wave of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS3): overview and field report (Technical Report WR-144/1-NIA/NICHD).Google Scholar
Strauss, J, Witoelar, F, Sikoki, B and Wattie, AM (2009) The 4th wave of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS4): overview and field report (Technical Report WR-675/1-NIA/NICHD).Google Scholar
van Oppen, MJ and Lough, JM (eds) (2009) Coral Bleaching: Patterns, Processes, Causes and Consequences. Ecological Studies 205. Berlin: Springer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veron, JEN and Stafford-Smith, M (2000) Corals of the World. Townsville, Australia: Australian Institute of Marine Science.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, C (ed) (2000) Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000. Townsville, Australia: Australian Institute of Marine Science.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, C and Hodgson, G (1999) Coral reefs and the 1997–1998 mass bleaching and mortality. Nature & Resources 35, 16–25.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Chaijaroen supplementary material

Chaijaroen supplementary material

Download Chaijaroen supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 212.7 KB