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Saving Lives at Birth: The Impact of Home Births on Infant Outcomes

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Author Info

  • Daysal, N. Meltem

    () (Tilburg University)

  • Trandafir, Mircea

    () (University of Sherbrooke)

  • van Ewijk, Reyn

    () (University of Mainz)

Abstract

Many developed countries have recently experienced sharp increases in home birth rates. This paper investigates the impact of home births on the health of low-risk newborns using data from the Netherlands, the only developed country where home births are widespread. To account for endogeneity in location of birth, we exploit the exogenous variation in distance from a mother's residence to the closest hospital. We find that giving birth in a hospital leads to substantial reductions in newborn mortality. We provide suggestive evidence that proximity to medical technologies may be an important channel contributing to these health gains.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 6879.

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Length: 53 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2012
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6879

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Keywords: medical technology; birth; home birth; mortality;

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  1. Bharadwaj, Prashant & Løken, Katrine V. & Neilson, Christopher, 2012. "Early Life Health Interventions And Academic Achievement," Working Papers in Economics 13/12, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
  2. Cutler, David M., 2007. "The lifetime costs and benefits of medical technology," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1081-1100, December.
  3. Amalia R. Miller, 2006. "The Impact of Midwifery-Promoting Public Policies on Medical Interventions and Health Outcomes," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 0(1), pages 6.
  4. Cutler, David M. & Lleras-Muney, Adriana, 2010. "Understanding Differences in Health Behaviors by Education," Scholarly Articles 5344195, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  5. Douglas Almond & Joseph J. Doyle, 2011. "After Midnight: A Regression Discontinuity Design in Length of Postpartum Hospital Stays," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 1-34, August.
  6. Douglas Almond & Joseph J. Doyle, Jr. & Amanda E. Kowalski & Heidi Williams, 2010. "Estimating Marginal Returns to Medical Care: Evidence from At-Risk Newborns," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 125(2), pages 591-634, May.
  7. Cutler, David M. & Lleras-Muney, Adriana, 2010. "Understanding differences in health behaviors by education," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-28, January.
  8. Joseph P. Newhouse, 1992. "Medical Care Costs: How Much Welfare Loss?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 3-21, Summer.
  9. James P. Smith, 1999. "Healthy Bodies and Thick Wallets: The Dual Relation between Health and Economic Status," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 145-166, Spring.
  10. Wiegers, T. A. & van der Zee, J. & Kerssens, J. J. & Keirse, M. J. N. C., 1998. "Home birth or short-stay hospital birth in a low risk population in the Netherlands," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(11), pages 1505-1511, January.
  11. David M. Cutler & Ellen Meara, 1998. "The Medical Costs of the Young and Old: A Forty-Year Perspective," NBER Chapters, in: Frontiers in the Economics of Aging, pages 215-246 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  12. McClellan, Mark & Newhouse, Joseph P., 1997. "The marginal cost-effectiveness of medical technology: A panel instrumental-variables approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 39-64, March.
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