Date of Graduation

Spring 5-18-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Economics

First Advisor

Bruce Wydick

Abstract

Human capital has for a long time been an important factor in economic growth theory. Previous literature shows a strong connection between parental input and the level of human capital attained by a child. The investment in child health and education has a positive effect on building human capital. When resources are scarce the allocation of resources will affect the opportunities that a child is given to achieve their potential. Gender preferences, birth order, and disabilities could all be factors that explain how parents chose to allocate their resources. Previous studies show that the distribution of parental input based on being born with a disability or having a sibling with a disability varies depending on the type of disability. This study uses data gathered from adolescents born with a facial anomaly in the western part of India and their closest sibling by age. Our results show that being born with a cleft lip or palate significantly decreases the parental input for the child. We also looked into gender and birth order to see if these variations would also have an effect on the distribution of parental input within a household.

Download

Share

COinS