The effects of demographics and maternal behavior on the distribution of birth outcomes
Abstract
This paper utilizes quantile-regression techniques in order to estimate the effects of demographics and maternal behavior during pregnancy at various quantiles of the birthweight distribution. Due to the high costs and long-term effects (both medical and economic) associated with low-birthweight babies, there is a great deal of interest in quantifying these effects, particularly at the lower end of the birthweight distribution. Using large samples of 1992 and 1996 births in the United States, the quantile-regression estimates indicate that several factors (including race, education, and prenatal care) have a significantly higher impact at lower quantiles and lower impact at higher quantiles. These effects at lower quantiles are underestimated by least-squares regression estimates. The inequality in birthweights implied by these results is quite significant, and there is little indication that the inequality has changed much in recent years.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Empirical Economics.
Volume (Year): 26 (2001)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 247-257
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Related research
Keywords: birthweight · natality · quantile regression;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
- I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Shanti Gamper-Rabindran & Shakeeb Khan & Christopher Timmins, 2008. "The Impact of Piped Water Provision on Infant Mortality in Brazil: A Quantile Panel Data Approach," NBER Working Papers 14365, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Ramdani D. & Van Witteloostuijn A., 2009. "Board Independence, CEO Duality and Firm Performance: A Quantile Regression Analysis for Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand," Working Papers 2009004, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Applied Economics.
- Costa-Font, Montserrat & Costa-Font, Joan, 2009. "Heterogeneous 'adaptation' and 'income effects' across self-reported health distribution?," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 574-580, August.
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"The importance of individual heterogeneity in the decomposition of measures of socioeconomic inequality in health: An approach based on quantile regression,"
Economics Working Papers
626, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
- Andrew M. Jones & Ángel López-Nicolás, 2002. "The importance of individual heterogeneity in the decomposition of measures of socioeconomic inequality in health: An approach based on quantile regression," Working Papers, Research Center on Health and Economics 626, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
- Stefan Holst Bache & Christian M. Dahl & Johannes Tang, . "Headlights on tobacco road to low birthweight outcomes - Evidence from a battery of quantile regression estimators and a heterogeneous panelCreation-Date: 20080508," CREATES Research Papers 2008-20, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus.
- Sai Ma & Brian Finch, 2010. "Birth Outcome Measures and Infant Mortality," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer, vol. 29(6), pages 865-891, December.
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- Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall.
- Koenker,Roger, 2005. "Quantile Regression," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521845731.
- Kompal Sinha, 2005. "Household Characteristics and Calorie Intake in Rural India: A Quantile Regression Approach," ASARC Working Papers 2005-02, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
- George L. Wehby & Jeffrey C. Murray & Eduardo E. Castilla & Jorge S. Lopez-Camelo & Robert L. Ohsfeldt, 2009. "Quantile effects of prenatal care utilization on birth weight in Argentina," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(11), pages 1307-1321.
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"Child care subsidies and childhood obesity,"
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- Chris M. Herbst & Erdal Tekin, 2009. "Child Care Subsidies and Childhood Obesity," NBER Working Papers 15007, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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- Wolfgang Frimmel & Gerald J. Pruckner, 2011.
"Birth weight and family status revisited: evidence from Austrian register data,"
Economics working papers
2011-17, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
- Wolfgang Frimmel & Gerald J. Pruckner, 2011. "Birth weight and family status revisited: evidence from Austrian register data," NRN working papers 2011-18, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
- Colin Cannonier, . "State Abstinence Education Programs and Teen Fertility in the U.S," Departmental Working Papers 2009-14, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
- Colin Cannonier, 2012. "State abstinence education programs and teen birth rates in the US," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 53-75, March.
- Rothe, Christoph, 2010.
"Nonparametric Estimation of Distributional Policy Effects,"
Open Access publications from University of Toulouse 1 Capitole
http://neeo.univ-tlse1.fr, University of Toulouse 1 Capitole.
- Rothe, Christoph, 2010. "Nonparametric estimation of distributional policy effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 155(1), pages 56-70, March.
- Gamper-Rabindran, Shanti & Khan, Shakeeb & Timmins, Christopher, 2010. "The impact of piped water provision on infant mortality in Brazil: A quantile panel data approach," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 188-200, July.
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