Abstract
This paper aims to empirically examine the impact that unexpected shocks suffered by households have on child growth in rural Cambodia, considering the role of informal risk pooling and social networks. In 2007 and 2009, we had conducted a household survey in rural Cambodia, and we measured child growth by height within the two years. We find that in rural Cambodia, unexpected shocks have a significant impact on child growth. However, once households use the risk pooling system, this impact will disappear. The existence of social networks plays no significant role in child growth in our study.
