Food insecurity is pervasive and highly seasonal in Ethiopia. In this study, we investigate the effect of seasonal food insecurity on child development. Exploiting the Young Lives Ethiopia dataset, we study the gender-specific impact of in utero exposure to seasonal food insecurity on cognitive development and the probability of being on the expected grade for children of age 8 up to 12. We find that at age 8 in utero exposure to food insecurity negatively affects cognitive development, only for boys. At age 12, such exposure significantly reduces cognitive development for all children, but with a significantly higher magnitude for boys. The impact is almost three times bigger compared to the one estimated for girls. Corroborated with other outcomes, we explain such gender imbalances by the accumulative nature of the scarring effect rather than the culling effect or gender differences in parental investment.

中文翻译：

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子宫内季节性粮食不安全和认知发展：埃塞俄比亚性别失衡的证据

在埃塞俄比亚，粮食不安全普遍存在且季节性很强。在这项研究中，我们调查了季节性粮食不安全对儿童发育的影响。利用 Young Lives 埃塞俄比亚数据集，我们研究了子宫内暴露于季节性粮食不安全对认知发展的性别影响以及 8 至 12 岁儿童达到预期成绩的可能性。我们发现，在 8 岁子宫内暴露于粮食不安全会对认知发展产生负面影响，仅对男孩而言。在 12 岁时，这种暴露会显着降低所有儿童的认知发展，但对男孩的影响要大得多。与估计对女孩的影响相比，这种影响几乎是其三倍。与其他结果证实，