GENETIC ENDOWMENTS, PARENTAL AND CHILD HEALTH IN RURAL ETHIOPIA

The determinants of long‐term child health in Ethiopia – as measured by height‐for‐age z‐scores – are examined controlling for community, household and individual level heterogeneity. The influence of parental health and the role of genetics are analysed. The height of parents is highly significant but no significant correlation with per capita expenditures is found. Food prices, birth order, sex and age of children, number of siblings of the mother, years of marriage and altitude are important determinants. Deprivations in later years are more important than during pre‐ or neo‐natal periods. Genetic inheritance seems to explain the correlations between child and parental health.