http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/77 Wed, 29 Jul 2026 19:46:47 GMT 2026-07-29T19:46:47Z http://localhost:8080/xmlui/bitstream/id/27915/ http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/77 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/20580 Impact of Family size on Child Health in Pakistan Working Paper No. 01-25 Fatima Jamil This study aims to estimate the impact of fertility on child health outcomes in Pakistan. Fertility can affect family size and hence the resources available for the welfare of each family member: a larger family size may result in fewer resources for children and adversely affect child health. The existing literature provides suggestive evidence on the likely impact of family size on child health but causal evidence is rare: while fertility decision can affect child health, health of existing children can also influence the decision to have another child. This study uses the incidence of ‘twin birth’ as an instrument for family size and is the first study for Pakistan that attempts to provide causal evidence on the impact of family size on child health. I use household - level data and child health data (height and weight-for-age, child mortality) from a sample of children under the age of 5 years from the Punjab (Pakistan) MICS rounds. Results show that each additional member of the family reduces height- and weight-for-age z scores by 0.2 – 0.3 standard deviations and increases the likelihood of child death by 8 – 9 percentage points. The results of this study can help policy makers in establishing policies that address the large family size issues and its importance for better child health outcomes. PP. 42 ill; Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/20580 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17629 Measuring Mother’s Empowerment Through Culture of Son Preference in Pakistan Paper No. 01-2022 Aimal Tanvir This paper highlights whether giving birth to a son plays a role in determining mother’s empowerment in Pakistan and in particular, if the birth-order of the son has any additional impact in uplifting the mother’s status within a household, using the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2012-13. In Pakistan, the household’s economic conditions make parents treat their sons and daughters differently and ultimately, giving preference to sons over daughters, in terms of education, health and nutrition, as the social and economic utility of a son, overpowers that of a daughter. In the presence of this culture of son preference, if women then give birth to a son or a number of sons, then it should help empower them. The results of the study show having a son significantly helps in empowering mothers in Pakistan. In contrast, the son’s birth-order (both higher or lower) is not an important factor for improving mother’s empowerment. Mother’s empowerment is mainly driven by the number of sons, and age of the son, and these results are more pronounced in rural areas of Pakistan, and for mothers belonging to poor households. PP. 32 ill; Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17629 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17628 Determining the Extent of Gender Discrimination in Education Sector: A case of Pakistan Paper No.04 Rabia Arif; Maham Khalid Gender bias in developing countries may restrict educational opportunities for girls in comparison to boys. This paper attempts to measure the gender disparity in education amongst children from 5 years to 18 years of age across Pakistan. Using the data from PSLM 2010-2011 and applying Oaxaca decomposition with probit estimation we measure the gender gap. The results interestingly show that although a strong bias exists against females in overall enrollment rates, but as we explore further, we see that males drop out of private schools more as compared to females and the accumulated level of schooling of the male adults is also lower than that of females. We find that much of these differences are not due to the endowment effects. Large negative deviation for males may be attributed to the unobservable pressure and society’s norms regarding the role of males that affect them in an adverse manner. PP. 44 ill; Wed, 01 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17628 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17627 Impact of Temporary External Migration & Remittances on Child Health Outcomes in Punjab, Pakistan Paper No. 03-2021 Mydda Aslam; Rabia Arif Primary motive of temporary migration in developing countries like Pakistan is generally in response to the income constraint faced by the households. Therefore, to relax the resource constraint, migrants tend to remit back to their families in home countries. This study attempts to look at the impact of temporary external migration and remittances on child health outcomes as measured by height-for-age (HAZ) & weight-for-age z scores (WAZ) in Punjab, Pakistan. Further, we test for the presence of intra household resource allocation bias where boys get preferential treatment in term of health care as compared to girls. Using historic migration rates and number of banks in each district to instrument for external migration and remittances from overseas, respectively, we employ an Instrumental Variable Approach estimated through Two Stage Least Square and Treatment Effect Model. Our results suggest significant positive impact of external migration and remittances on both the indicators of child health outcomes. Further this study confirms the presence of increased bargaining power of women in households headed by females resulting in a greater share of resources being spent on girls relative to boys. PP. 76 ill; Sun, 01 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/17627 2021-08-01T00:00:00Z