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Abstract
In this paper we estimate production functions for cognition and health
throughout four stages of childhood from 5-15 years of age using two cohorts
of children drawn from the Young Lives Survey for India. The inputs into
the production function include parental background, prior child cognition and
health and child investments. We allow investments to be endogenous and
they depend on local prices and household income, as well as on the exogenous
determinants of cognition and health. We find that investments are very im-
portant determinants of child cognition and of health at an earlier age. We also
find that inputs are complementary and crucially that health is very important
in determining cognition. Our paper contributes in understanding how early
health outcomes are important in child development.