Food Affordability and Double Catastrophe in Early Life: Lessons from the 1974–75 Bangladesh Famine

Shabnam, Nourin; Ulubaşoğlu, Mehmet A.; Guven, Cahit

Abstract

We study the educational outcomes of the 1974–75 Bangladesh famine among early life survivors using the 1991 Bangladesh micro-census data. We find that famine adversely affected survivor children in areas that experienced higher rice prices relative to labour wages. However, children living in wealthy households in famine-stricken areas escaped the adverse effects and had similar educational outcomes as those with no famine exposure. We also find that, surprisingly, exposure to a double catastrophe (i.e., concurrent famine and flood) in early life had weaker effects on survivor children's education than exposure to a single catastrophe. We show that disaster-alleviation mechanisms were more effective in districts affected by double disasters.

Citation

Shabnam, N., Ulubaşoğlu, M. A., & Guven, C. (2022). Food Affordability and Double Catastrophe in Early Life: Lessons from the 1974–75 Bangladesh Famine. Economic Record, 98(S1), 24-51. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.12668

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 2, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jun 8, 2022
• Publication Date: Sep 6, 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 21, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 23, 2023
• Journal: Economic Record
• Print ISSN: 0013-0249
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-4932
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 98
• Issue: S1
• Pages: 24-51
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.12668
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1181134