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This paper investigates how and to what extent idiosyncratic weather fluctuations during the time in utero affect infant health at birth and children education in the Semiarid Northeast Brazil. To study this question we build two parallel databases. The first one is a municipality by month of birth database that combines site-specific rainfall fluctuations before birth with infant health and mortality rates. The second one combines the same weather variables with children level data on educational attainment and achievement. We find statistically significant evidence that areas hit by negative rainfall fluctuations experience subsequently higher incidence of low birth weight, preterm gestation and infant mortality rates, in particular due to intestinal infections and malnutrition. We also find robust evidence that negative rainfall fluctuations before birth are associated with lower academic test scores, higher incidence of delayed enrollment, dropout and grade repetition among primary school students.

rainfall; infant health; school achievement