This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Use of modern medical care for pregnancy and childbirth care : does female schooling matter ?

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Somanathan, Aparnaa
Abstract

Controversy exists over whether the estimated effects of schooling on health care use reflect the influence of unobserved factors. Existing estimates may overstate the schooling effect because of the failure to control for unobserved variables or may be downwardly biased due to measurement error. This paper contributes to the resolution of this debate by adopting an instrumental variable approach to estimate the impact of female schooling on maternal health care use. A school construction program in Indonesia in the 1970s is used to construct an instrumental variable for education. The choice between use and non-use of maternal health services is estimated as a function of schooling and other variables. Data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey are used for this paper. Standard regression models estimated in the paper indicate that each additional year of schooling does indeed have a significant, positive effect on maternal health care use. Instrumental variable estimates of the schooling effect are larger. The results suggest that schooling has a positive impact on maternal health care use even after eliminating the effect of unobserved variables and measurement error. This paper moves beyond previous work on the impact of education on health care use by adopting an IV approach to address the problem of endogeneity and measurement error. IV methods have been used widely in the labour economics literature to examine the impact of schooling on wages and other labour market outcomes but rarely to estimate the effect of schooling on health outcomes.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2008/05/20/000158349_20080520092433/Rendered/PDF/wps4625.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 4625.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: 01 May 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4625

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433
Email:
Web page: http://www.worldbank.org/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Roula I. Yazigi).

Related research
Keywords: Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Population Policies; Health Systems Development&Reform; Gender and Health; Primary Education;

Other versions of this item:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Rosenzweig, Mark R. & Wolpin, Kenneth I., 1988. "Migration selectivity and the effects of public programs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 265-289, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Schwartz, J Brad & Akin, John S & Popkin, Barry M, 1988. "Price and Income Elasticities of Demand for Modern Health Care: The Case of Infant Delivery in the Philippines," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 49-76, January.
  3. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-55, March-Apr. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Wolfe, Barbara L & Behrman, Jere R, 1984. "Determinants of Women's Health Status and Health-Care Utilization in a Developing Country: A Latent Variable Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 66(4), pages 696-703, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Akin, John S, et al, 1986. "The Demand for Primary Health Care Services in the Bicol Region of the Philippines," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(4), pages 755-82, July.
  6. Behrman, Jere R. & Wolfe, Barbara L., 1987. "How does mother's schooling affect family health, nutrition, medical care usage, and household sanitation?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-2), pages 185-204. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Wolfe, Barbara L. & Behrman, Jere R., 1982. "Determinants of child mortality, health, and nutrition in a developing country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 163-193, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Guilkey, David K. & Riphahn, Regina T., 1998. "The determinants of child mortality in the Philippines: estimation of a structural model," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 281-305, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Strauss, John & Thomas, Duncan, 1995. "Human resources: Empirical modeling of household and family decisions," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery† & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 1883-2023 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Barrera, Albino, 1990. "The role of maternal schooling and its interaction with public health programs in child health production," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 69-91, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Gertler, Paul & Locay, Luis & Sanderson, Warren, 1987. "Are user fees regressive? : The welfare implications of health care financing proposals in Peru," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-2), pages 67-88. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Ruth Daroesman, 1971. "Finance of Education* Part 1," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 61-95, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Strauss, John, 1990. "Households, Communities, and Preschool Children's Nutrition Outcomes: Evidence from Rural Cote d'Ivoire," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 231-61, January.
  14. Lavy, Victor & Strauss, John & Thomas, Duncan & de Vreyer, Philippe, 1996. "Quality of health care, survival and health outcomes in Ghana," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 333-357, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Paul J. Gertler & Luis Locay & Warren C. Sanderson, 1987. "Are User Fees Regressive? The Welfare Implications of Health Care Financing Proposals in Peru," NBER Working Papers 2299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Ward Heneveld, 1978. "The Distribution of Development Funds: New School Building in East Java," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 63-79, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? All bibliographic data on IDEAS has been put in the public domain by the publishers.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-25.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.