Building on recent advances in the literature and using a rich data set for two cohorts of children aged between one and twelve for Andhra Pradesh, India, we investigate the determinants of children's cognitive as well as non-cognitive skills. We find evidence of self-productivity for cognitive skills and cross-productivity effects from cognitive on non-cognitive skills. Moreover, we demonstrate that parental investment has contemporaneously positive effects on skill levels for all age groups.

This essay evaluates the role of social capital as a risk-coping device in rural communities of India's Andhra Pradesh state. Focusing on health outcomes among children between the ages of 1 and 9, I test whether social capital serves as an insurance mechanism and helps households minimize the negative impact of income shocks. Negative shocks considered are of two types: individual-household level shocks and common (or aggregate) shocks affecting more than one household.

Droughts are recurrent features of the Indian climatic fabric. A single month's failure (or delay) of the annual monsoon can wield a debilitating blow—in varying degrees—to Indian agriculture and the livelihoods of people, particularly the rural populace. In 2002, large parts of the country experienced one of the most intense droughts recorded in India in the last 25 years.  While losses in agricultural income and man-days of rural employment have been widely acknowledged, the long-term health consequences of the drought remain unknown.

Awareness of the importance of early childhood care and education (ECCE), including the first years of primary school, has increased in recent decades, and strengthening these early services has long been a policy priority in India.