Essays on Rainfall Shocks and Decision-Making within Community Development Organisations in South Asia

The first part of this dissertation examines the consequences of rainfall shocks on child health while the second part of the dissertation explores the process of collective decision-making within community development organisations in rural Pakistan. In the first chapter we examine the short, medium and long run effects of exposure to a drought during the first two years of life on physical growth and cognitive development. We use exogenous variation in rainfall at the district level for drought exposure. The aim of the second chapter is to examine the impact of rainfall variations during agricultural seasons in the pre-pregnancy, pre-natal and post-natal period on height in the short and long run. In addition to rainfall, we also study the effect of fluctuations in river water flows, and thereby water availability The through irrigation, on physical growth during the birth year and the year before. Finally, the aim of the third chapter is to examine how individual preferences of members running community development organisations aggregate into group preferences, and to what extent, intrinsic characteristics of members matter in determining whether their individual preferences are represented or ignored in group preferences. In order to answer these questions, we conducted a framed field experiment with community organisations in Pakistan. The experiment involved eliciting risk and time preferences of members by asking them to make organisational budgetary decisions on behalf of the organisation, first individually and then collectively after face-to-face deliberation amongst each other.