Booms, Busts, and Babies’ Health
Abstract
This paper documents a counter-cyclical pattern in the health of children, and examines whether this pattern is due to selection among women choosing to give birth or to behavioral changes. We study the relationship between the unemployment rate at the time of a baby’s conception and parental characteristics, parental behaviors, and babies’ health. Using national data from the Natality Files from 1975 onward, we find that babies conceived in times of high unemployment have a reduced incidence of low and very low birth weight, fewer congenital malformations, and a reduced rate of post-neonatal mortality. These health improvements are attributable both to selection (changes in the type of mothers that conceive during recessions) and to changes in behavior during recessions. Black mothers tend to be higher socio-economic status (as measured by education and marital status) in times of high unemployment, whereas white mothers are less educated. Health behaviors also appear to improve among all pregnant women, although we cannot reject the hypothesis that all health improvements among black women are due to selection.Download Info
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Paper provided by Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing. in its series Working Papers with number 250.Length:
Date of creation: Mar 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:pri:cheawb:250
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Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- Rajeev Dehejia & Adriana LLeras Muney, 2004. "Booms, Busts, and Babies' Health," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 119(3), pages 1091-1130, August.
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As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:- Is this recession good for your health?
by Sam Watson in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2013-04-25 07:15:53
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