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Do Mothers have Enough Time to feed their Children?: Effect of Maternal Time use on Child Nutrition in Bangladesh

By accounting for seasonality, income, and education, Dr Monica Jain’s research reveals some of the factors that constrain women’s time use – and some surprising factors that don’t – to understand what may shape women’s ability to provide adequate complementary feeding.

Complementary child feeding practices that complement breast feeding are poor in Bangladesh and have improved minimally over time, especially for children 6-23 months. One hypothesis frequently proposed is that mothers in Bangladesh do not have enough time for adequate complementary feeding. We test this using panel data on time use of women across three agricultural seasons in 1996-97. We find that women spend around two hours a day on exclusive child care, which does not vary significantly by income, education or agricultural season although boys are favored. In the higher intensity agricultural season the majority of women reduce their time spent on cooking. Women also combine child care with their other work for more than two hours every day; the extent of multi-tasking does not differ by education level or the gender composition of children. Married women 15-49 years old themselves eat less when they spend less time on cooking, and the effect is stronger for those with children under 5 years. For the male head in these households the effect is smaller in magnitude and less robust. Women’s cooking time does not affect the food consumption of their children either 6-23 or 24-59 months old, but there is some evidence of discrimination in favor of boys. Exclusive child care time has no effect on food consumption of children 6-23 months old, but there is some evidence of a negative effect on food consumption of children 24-59 months and on girls. Multi-tasking child care time has no consistent effect on food intake of children either by age or gender. Maternal time on work outside home has a positive effect on their own food consumption and somewhat on their sons’ food consumption.

Time use is one of many drivers of poor complementary feeding practices. Knowledge, income, and access to the right kinds of foods also influence complementary feeding.

Monica Jain is an Associate Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C.  Her research focuses on poverty and development issues including health and nutrition, labor, education, and governance. She has previously worked at The World Bank, New Delhi, and interned at The Brookings Institution in Washington DC. She has a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Riverside, and an MPhil and Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics.

Women Workers in India: Why so Few Among so Many?

At this seminar, Sonali Jain-Chandra and Sonali Das from IMF, presented a paper that examines the determinants of female labor force participation in India, against the backdrop of one of the lowest female participation rates  among its peers. Using extensive Indian household survey data, the paper models the labor force participation choices of women, conditional on demographic characteristics and education, as well as looking at the influence of state-level labor market flexibility and other state policies. The main finding is that a number of policy initiatives can help boost female economic participation in the states of India, including increased labor market flexibility, investment in infrastructure, and enhanced social spending. Rinku Murgai, Lead Economist from the World Bank, as the discussant for the seminar, took forward the conversations with the audience.

Sonali Jain-Chandra is Deputy Division Chief in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department. She has wide-ranging country experience on India, Korea, Indonesia, Cambodia, Nepal and Bhutan. She was also a member of the Regional Studies Division and has often contributed to the IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook. Prior to her current assignment, she worked in the IMF’s Strategy, Policy and Review departments on vulnerabilities in emerging markets and advanced economies. Her research focuses on labor markets, capital flows, international banking linkages, and financial inclusion. She holds a PhD in Economics from Columbia University, a BA and MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a BA in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.
Sonali Das is an Economist in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, where she focuses on India and Nepal. Previously, she was in the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, where she worked on the IMF program with Pakistan and policy papers on the international monetary system. Prior to joining the IMF in 2012, Sonali interned at the Brookings Institution, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, as well as the IMF. She received her PhD in Economics from Cornell University, an MA in Economics from McGill University, and a BSc from the University of Toronto. Her research interests are in banking, financial interconnectedness, and economic development.
Rinku Murgai is a Lead Economist in the Poverty Global Practice of the World Bank.  Rinku joined the World Bank in 2000 as a Young Professional, with assignments in the South Asia Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit and the Research Department.  In 2003, she relocated to the New Delhi office and has been working in India since then.  She has a keen interest and analytic skills in the general areas of poverty, vulnerability and public policy, encompassing poverty and inequality measurement. In her work at the World Bank, Rinku has had the opportunity to contribute to poverty assessments, development policy reviews, impact evaluations, operations, and Country Partnership Strategies. She has worked closely with government on issues related to poverty monitoring, strengthening of statistical systems, and design and M&E of safety nets. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Economics from Swarthmore College, and a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

NCAER IHDS team attends the Population Association of America Annual Meeting 2015

NCAER IHDS team attended the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America in San Diego from 30 April to 2 May, 2015. The Population Association of America (PAA) is a nonprofit, scientific, professional organization established to promote the improvement, advancement and progress of the human race through research of problems related to human population. PAA members include demographers, sociologists, economists, public health professionals, and other individuals interested in research and education in the population field. It conducts its annual meetings/conference where researchers around the globe present their work related to population science, sociology and applied economics.

This year’s s PAA 2015 Annual Meeting hosted a wide range of diverse and numerous seminars by experts and industry leaders and was attended by almost 2,300 professionals. NCAER’s IHDS representatives attended professional development sessions in this conference spread over 3 days, which included a wide range of topics, Marriage, Family, Households, and Unions, Children and Youth, Health and Mortality, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity, Migration and Urbanization, Economy, Labor Force, Education, and Inequality, Population, Development, and the Environment and many more.
The  team from NCAER and University of Maryland presented two papers and participated in five poster presentations at PAA meet. A poster by Omkar Joshi, Sonalde Desai and Reeve Vanneman titled ” Rebalancing the Gender Scales: A Case of MGNREGA” was selected as one of the Best Posters. The poster discuss changes in women’s empowerment in the context of MGNREGA.
The team, when back home, presented the posters and shared their experiences at the PAA meet with colleagues at NCAER.
IHDS   is India Human Development Surveys I (2004-5) and II (2011-12)  (IHDS-I and II)  form part of a collaborative research program between researchers from the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland. Building on NCAER’s prior work in the 1990s, these surveys provide a rich empirical data base that will be available free of charge to a wide range of researchers in India and abroad, allowing for informed policy debates. The IHDS-I data are available free of charge to researchers worldwide and are being used by about 7,000 users. Public release of IHDS-II data is scheduled for June 2015. Read more.

NCAER IHDS team attends the Population Association of America Annual Meeting 2015

NCAER IHDS team attended the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America in San Diego from 30 April to 2 May, 2015. The Population Association of America (PAA) is a nonprofit, scientific, professional organization established to promote the improvement, advancement and progress of the human race through research of problems related to human population. PAA members include demographers, sociologists, economists, public health professionals, and other individuals interested in research and education in the population field. It conducts its annual meetings/conference where researchers around the globe present their work related to population science, sociology and applied economics.

This year’s s PAA 2015 Annual Meeting hosted a wide range of diverse and numerous seminars by experts and industry leaders and was attended by almost 2,300 professionals. NCAER’s IHDS representatives attended professional development sessions in this conference spread over 3 days, which included a wide range of topics, Marriage, Family, Households, and Unions, Children and Youth, Health and Mortality, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity, Migration and Urbanization, Economy, Labor Force, Education, and Inequality, Population, Development, and the Environment and many more.
The  team from NCAER and University of Maryland presented two papers and participated in five poster presentations at PAA meet. A poster by Omkar Joshi, Sonalde Desai and Reeve Vanneman titled ” Rebalancing the Gender Scales: A Case of MGNREGA” was selected as one of the Best Posters. The poster discuss changes in women’s empowerment in the context of MGNREGA.
The team, when back home, presented the posters and shared their experiences at the PAA meet with colleagues at NCAER.
IHDS   is India Human Development Surveys I (2004-5) and II (2011-12)  (IHDS-I and II)  form part of a collaborative research program between researchers from the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland. Building on NCAER’s prior work in the 1990s, these surveys provide a rich empirical data base that will be available free of charge to a wide range of researchers in India and abroad, allowing for informed policy debates. The IHDS-I data are available free of charge to researchers worldwide and are being used by about 7,000 users. Public release of IHDS-II data is scheduled for June 2015. Read more.

India Development Update: Towards a Higher Growth Path

Dr Poonam Gupta, Senior Economist, World Bank, presented an update on the Indian Economy, at this seminar held at NCAER. World Bank’s India Development Update notes that aided by reform measures and a supportive external environment, the Indian economy seems to have turned the corner with significant improvement in economic outlook. Most indicators point toward improved macroeconomic conditions–growth has accelerated, inflation has declined, current account deficit has narrowed, and external reserves have increased. Following robust growth last year, GDP growth at market prices is expected to accelerate to 7.5 percent in 2015-2016, 7.9 percent in 2016-17 and reaching 8.0 percent in 2017-2018. Economic growth however remains lopsided, with consumption being the largest contributors. Additional drivers, such as exports and investment, need to make more significant contributions for the growth momentum to be sustainable. Spurring exports and investment will require deeper structural reforms, stepping up infrastructure investment, and decisive measures to unlock private investment.

Poonam Gupta is a Senior Economist at the World Bank in Washington DC working in the office of the Banks’ Chief Economist. She was previously the RBI Chair Professor at NIPFP. She has also worked at the International Monetary Fund and taught at the Delhi School of Economics. Her research has been published in leading academic journals including in the Journal of Finance and the Journal of International Economics, and has been featured in The Economist, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and in leading Indian dailies. She has a Ph.D in International Economics from the University of Maryland and an M.A. in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics.

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