Household resources, household composition, and child nutritional outcomes

In many developing countries the composition of rural households is influenced by the migration of adult household members to urban locations in search of employment. Children may be left in the care of their mother alone, or in the care of grandparents when both parents have migrated. Using representative data from rural Northeast Thailand, this paper investigates whether household composition has any effect on the nutritional outcomes of children. Our findings suggest that household types other than nuclear families result in some significantly worse child nutritional outcomes. One implication is that governments should target programs to protect the welfare of the children of migrants in origin communities..