Early childhood nutrition, schooling, and sibling inequality in a dynamic context: Evidence from South Africa

A study was conducted to examine the effects of early childhood health capital on schooling investments and outcomes, with the use of a panel data from South Africa. The study showed that parents require a sound understanding of complex interactions of market forces and dynamic household behavior to deal with the issue of whether early investments in children affect future outcomes. They also acquire knowledge about the potential returns to schooling investments from results of early stage investments and make decisions in terms of optimal investments at later stages. Nutrition consumption and health capital in early childhood was measured by the height-for-age Z-score of preprimary-school-aged children, further enhancing schooling investments and improving the consequences. The study also found that health capital may also increase opportunity costs, and generate positive economic returns, for schooling investments, and may affect intertemporal decision making, creating heterogeneity in the effect of health capital on schooling investments.