The Height Production Function from Birth to Early Adulthood∗

In this paper I specify a height production function in order to study the determinants of height from birth to early adulthood in the Philippines. I use a rich longitudinal data set on Filipino children born in 1983 and followed for more than 20 years. The structure of the production function allows height to be the result of the accumulation of inputs over time. The results show that inputs from conception to birth are relevant at each age of the children. Nutrition inputs have a positive but small effect on the child’s height. The shorter the distance between the age when the nutrition input is applied and the age when height is measured, the higher the impact on height. The older the child, the bigger the impact with a peak during the growth spurt. The earlier disease inputs are experienced, the stronger their negative effect on height. The older the child, the stronger the effects of past diseases. ∗I would like to thank my supervisor, Franco Peracchi for his patience and excellent advice. I thank Jere Behrman for his precious comments. I also thank Kenneth Wolpin, Petra Todd and Flavio Cunha for their helpful suggestions. I thank Linda Adair and the Cebu team for the data and constant help. Special thanks to Nicola Barban for his continous support and encouragement. I also thank the empirical micro club participants at the University of Pennsylvania (academic year 2008-2009), in particular Shalini Roy, Nirav Mehta and Seth Richards, for their valuable help. I really thank Lara Patricio Tavares, Melody Garcia and Tania De Renzis for correcting my English in the paper. All errors are my own. †Department SEFEMEQ, University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Italy. Faculty of Economics; Address: Via Columbia 2, I 00133 Roma, Mobile: +39 349 0071191, Tel: +39 06 7259 5624, Fax: +39 06 2040 219, Email: [email protected].