La Niña y los niños: Effects of an Unexpected Winter on Early Life Human Capital and Family Responses
 

We use rainfall shocks caused by La Niña in Colombia between 2010 and 2011 as a source of variation in the inputs of human capital formation. We have outcomes in 2013 for kids 0 to 5 years old and their household characteristics just before La Niña. We measure exposure using the number of days of heavy rains at different ages according to the day of birth of the kid, the exact location of his household and the closest weather station. Exposure in utero reduces birth-weight (0.19SD), weight gain per month (0.07SD), actual weight (0.15SD) and height (0.12SD). Exposure during the second year of life increases the risk of socioemotional problems (0.19SD) and decreases results in cognitive tests (0.10SD). Consistent with reinforcement, children who receive a shock during a critical period also receive less investment by their families. Households were not able to shield their consumption and they cut their expenditures in health and education (0.06SD). However the majority of households do not acknowledge being directly affected by the winter.
 

Not all that Glitters Is Gold: Gold Boom, Child Labor and Schooling in Colombia

This paper estimates the impact of the boom in international gold prices on child labor and schooling in Colombia. I first set up a simple agricultural household model of child labor and commodity prices hocks which guides the empirical analysis. Then, I use individual level information from the censuses of 1985, 1993 (when prices where stable) and 2005 (when prices surged) merged with regional data on gold production capabilities. I define Gold Boom as an interaction between regional gold production capabilities and the international price of gold. I find that child labor is increasing (0.3 standard deviations) and school attendance is decreasing (0.9 standard deviations) in the measure of gold boom. Accordingly, the gold boom decreases school attainment (0.2 standard deviations). This is consistent with the model when initial child labor is low and substitution effects dominate income effects. Finally, I find that the years of education of the head of the head of the household but not her ownership of assets mitigate the collateral effects of the gold boom.