How does early life rainfall impact later life human capital outcomes in Bangladesh? This paper examines the effect of exogenous rainfall shocks that occur during individuals early-life on later life health, wealth and education outcomes of Bangladeshi women born between 1952-1988. I link historical rainfall for each woman’s birth year and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) cluster of birth with current outcomes from the 1999/2000, 2004 and 2007 survey rounds of the DHS. This study finds that rural women with 20% higher than mean rainfall in their year and cluster of birth are on average 0.24 cm taller and score 0.053 higher on a wealth index (1-5). I find that 20% higher rainfall in the two seasons prior to birth leads to women attaining 0.097 more years of education. I find excess rainfall has a negative impact on height and education for women born in urban areas, but I give this result less attention due to the low number of observations of women born in urban areas in the sample.
","abstract_html":"<p>How does early life rainfall impact later life human capital outcomes in Bangladesh? This paper examines the effect of exogenous rainfall shocks that occur during individuals early-life on later life health, wealth and education outcomes of Bangladeshi women born between 1952-1988. I link historical rainfall for each woman’s birth year and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) cluster of birth with current outcomes from the 1999/2000, 2004 and 2007 survey rounds of the DHS. This study finds that rural women with 20% higher than mean rainfall in their year and cluster of birth are on average 0.24 cm taller and score 0.053 higher on a wealth index (1-5). I find that 20% higher rainfall in the two seasons prior to birth leads to women attaining 0.097 more years of education. I find excess rainfall has a negative impact on height and education for women born in urban areas, but I give this result less attention due to the low number of observations of women born in urban areas in the sample.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Dreesen, Thomas"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Economics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jesse Anttila-Hughes"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-05-10T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-05-10T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:42:50Z","subjects":["Bangladesh","Nutrition","Human Capital","Rainfall","Growth and Development"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/86","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jesse Anttila-Hughes"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Dreesen, Thomas"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-05-10T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Economics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Bangladesh","Nutrition","Human Capital","Rainfall","Growth and Development"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/86"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["How does early life rainfall impact later life human capital outcomes in Bangladesh? This paper examines the effect of exogenous rainfall shocks that occur during individuals early-life on later life health, wealth and education outcomes of Bangladeshi women born between 1952-1988. I link historical rainfall for each woman’s birth year and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) cluster of birth with current outcomes from the 1999/2000, 2004 and 2007 survey rounds of the DHS. This study finds that rural women with 20% higher than mean rainfall in their year and cluster of birth are on average 0.24 cm taller and score 0.053 higher on a wealth index (1-5). I find that 20% higher rainfall in the two seasons prior to birth leads to women attaining 0.097 more years of education. I find excess rainfall has a negative impact on height and education for women born in urban areas, but I give this result less attention due to the low number of observations of women born in urban areas in the sample.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Early Life Rainfall and Later Life Human Capital Outcomes in Bangladesh"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jesse Anttila-Hughes"],"dc:creator":["Dreesen, Thomas"],"dc:date.available":["2014-05-10T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["How does early life rainfall impact later life human capital outcomes in Bangladesh? This paper examines the effect of exogenous rainfall shocks that occur during individuals early-life on later life health, wealth and education outcomes of Bangladeshi women born between 1952-1988. I link historical rainfall for each woman’s birth year and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) cluster of birth with current outcomes from the 1999/2000, 2004 and 2007 survey rounds of the DHS. This study finds that rural women with 20% higher than mean rainfall in their year and cluster of birth are on average 0.24 cm taller and score 0.053 higher on a wealth index (1-5). I find that 20% higher rainfall in the two seasons prior to birth leads to women attaining 0.097 more years of education. I find excess rainfall has a negative impact on height and education for women born in urban areas, but I give this result less attention due to the low number of observations of women born in urban areas in the sample.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/86"],"dc:subject":["Bangladesh","Nutrition","Human Capital","Rainfall","Growth and Development"],"dc:title":["Early Life Rainfall and Later Life Human Capital Outcomes in Bangladesh"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Economics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:42:50Z"}