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The Effectiveness of Prenatal Care in Uruguay's Low-Income Population: A Panel Data Approach

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  • Ana Inés Balsa
  • Patricia Triunfo

Abstract

This paper studies the effectiveness of prenatal care on low-income women's birth outcomes. We analyze all births between 1995 and 2011 in Uruguay's largest public maternity ward. We use mother-specific first differences to circumvent biases due to time-invariant, unobserved heterogeneity and implement robustness checks that reduce concerns about time variant shocks and feedback effects. We find that adequate use of prenatal care, as defined by early initiation and at least 9 visits, decreases the probability of low birth weight by 6 percentage points and the probability of pre-term birth by 11 percentage points, and increases birth weight by 149 grams.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Inés Balsa & Patricia Triunfo, 2015. "The Effectiveness of Prenatal Care in Uruguay's Low-Income Population: A Panel Data Approach," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 52(2), pages 149-183, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:ioe:cuadec:v:52:y:2015:i:2:p:149-183
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Diether W. Beuermann & Patricia Garcia & Jose Perez Lu & Rafael Anta & Alessandro Maffioli & Maria Fernanda Rodrigo, 2020. "Information and Communication Technologies, Prenatal Care Services, and Neonatal Health," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 41-59, March.
    2. Tim Bersak & Lyudmyla Sonchak‐Ardan, 2022. "Prenatal care: Mechanisms and impacts on infant health and health care utilization," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 48-65, January.
    3. Ji Yan, 2017. "Healthy Babies: Does Prenatal Care Really Matter?," Working Papers 17-09, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    4. Ana Inés Balsa & Patricia Triunfo, 2021. "Pandemia de COVID-19 y salud perinatal en 2020: el caso de Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1521, Department of Economics - dECON.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    prenatal care; low birth weight; low-income populations; first differences; panel data;
    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
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General

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