Abstract:-

Operation Flood, India’s “White Revolution,” expanded dairy production and integrated rural markets through cooperative procurement and a national milk grid. This paper examines whether large-scale dairy market expansion improved long-run human capital, measured by adult height. Using NFHS-4 data on adults born between 1966 and 1996 and exploiting the staggered district-level rollout of Operation Flood, we implement a Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021) difference-in-differences framework. We find that exposure to Operation Flood increases adult height by 0.27 cm on average, reduces stunting by 1.7 percentage points, and reduces severe stunting by 0.5 percentage points.

Mechanism analysis using NSS consumption data indicates that Operation Flood increased milk consumption primarily through expanded market participation rather than income growth. Districts exposed to Operation Flood exhibit higher milk expenditure and a greater likelihood of purchasing milk, with little change in total per capita expenditure or non-dairy food consumption. Effects are concentrated among non-milch households, consistent with expanded dairy access rather than producer income gains. The findings demonstrate how agricultural market integration can improve long-run biological welfare through targeted nutritional channels.

(Co-authored with Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay and Prakarsh Singh)