Educational responses to local and migration destination shocks: Evidence from China

Over the last 20 years, China has experienced substantial positive shocks to export-oriented industries—especially following its accession to the World Trade Organization—and these shocks have had major implications for human capital investment. One primary channel through which export expansion can shape choices about human capital accumulation is positive labor-demand shocks, and these shocks can be observed both at potential within-country migration destinations and in the locality of birth. Exploiting cross-county variation in the reduction in export tariff uncertainty post-WTO, both locally and at plausible migration destinations, this analysis finds that youth in China reaching matriculation age post-accession in counties experiencing a larger export shock (either locally or at those destinations) show a lower probability of enrolling in high school. This pattern is observed in a sample including both youth who ultimately migrate and youth who do not migrate. For urban youth, the effects of local shocks are larger than the effects of destination shocks, but the opposite pattern is observed for rural youth. A supplementary online appendix is available with this article at The World Bank Economic Review website. JEL classification: F14, F16, J24, O15, O18, O19

Harness agrifood value chains to help farmers be climate smart: Incentives and structures exist to improve farming practices

Nutrient-dense foods and diverse diets are important for ensuring adequate nutrition across the life course

The world faces a global challenge of how to meet the nutritional needs of a diverse global population through diets. This paper defines the relative nutritional needs across each stage of the life cycle to support human health and identifies who is nutritionally vulnerable. Findings in this paper suggest that there are biological nutritional vulnerabilities stemming from high micronutrient needs per calorie in certain phases of the life cycle, particularly for infants and young children, women of reproductive age, pregnant and lactating women, and older adults, particularly older women. The paper demonstrates the role of micronutrient-dense animal-source foods and plant-source foods important in meeting essential nutrient needs to support healthy growth, development, and aging across vulnerable stages of the life cycle.