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Neonatal health of parents and cognitive development of children

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  • Kreiner, Claus Thustrup
  • Sievertsen, Hans Henrik

Abstract

It is well-established that neonatal health is a strong predictor of socioeconomic outcomes later in life, but does neonatal health also predict key outcomes of the next generation? This paper documents a surprisingly strong relationship between birth weight of parents and school test scores of their children. The association between maternal birth weight and child test scores corresponds to 50–80 percent of the association between the child's own birth weight and test scores across various empirical specifications, for example including grandmother fixed effects that isolate within-family differences between mothers. Paternal and maternal birth weights are equally important in predicting child test scores. Our intergenerational results suggest that inequality in neonatal health is important for inequality in key outcomes of the next generation.

Suggested Citation

  • Kreiner, Claus Thustrup & Sievertsen, Hans Henrik, 2020. "Neonatal health of parents and cognitive development of children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:69:y:2020:i:c:s0167629618310609
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2019.102247
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    Cited by:

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    2. Baker, Jennifer L. & Bjerregaard, Lise G. & Dahl, Christian M. & Johansen, Torben S. D. & Sørensen, Emil N. & Wüst, Miriam, 2023. "Universal Investments in Toddler Health. Learning from a Large Government Trial," IZA Discussion Papers 16270, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    4. Carsten Andersen, 2019. "Intergenerational Health Mobility: Evidence from Danish Registers," Economics Working Papers 2019-04, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Neonatal health; Human capital formation; Intergenerational dependency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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