Childhood vaccination and human capital development in later life: Evidence from Indonesia

Crawford School of Public Policy
Photo by DFAT on Flickr

Event details

PhD Seminar (Econ)

Date & time

Friday 13 May 2022
11.00am–12.00pm

Venue

Weston Theatre Level 1, JG Crawford Building #132, 1 Lennox Crossing, ANU

Speaker

Riswandi

Deprivation due to common diseases in early life is often linked to lower levels of wellbeing over the course of life. The main health program to overcome this issue conducted by most countries in the world is a colossal childhood vaccination program. For many developing countries, implementing this program has been an expensive and challenging program. However, little is known about the causal effects of childhood vaccination on human capital development, particularly in lower and middle-income settings. Drawing on longitudinal data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), the study investigates the long- term effects of childhood vaccination on educational and health outcomes, taking Indonesia as a case study. I exploit the differential timing of village midwife presence in a community during the implementation of the Village Midwife Program in Indonesia interacted with the squared inversed-distance from districts of birthplace to the national capital as the instrument. The study reveals that children with complete routine vaccination tend to have more years of schooling in later life. We find no significant impact of vaccination on long-term health outcomes, but complete vaccination significantly reduces prevalence of stunting in the short-term.

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