IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/deveco/v99y2012i1p190-199.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Armed conflict and birth weight: Evidence from the al-Aqsa Intifada

Author

Listed:
  • Mansour, Hani
  • Rees, Daniel I.

Abstract

No previous study has estimated the effect of intrauterine exposure to armed conflict on pregnancy outcomes. Drawing on data from the 2004 Palestinian Demographic and Health Survey, which was conducted approximately 4years after the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada, we find that an additional conflict-related fatality 9–6months before birth is associated with a modest increase in the probability of having a child who weighed less than 2500g. There is also evidence, albeit less consistent, of a positive relationship between fatalities in late pregnancy and low birth weight.

Suggested Citation

  • Mansour, Hani & Rees, Daniel I., 2012. "Armed conflict and birth weight: Evidence from the al-Aqsa Intifada," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 190-199.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:99:y:2012:i:1:p:190-199
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.12.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387811001209
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.12.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jessica Cohen & Pascaline Dupas, 2008. "Free Distribution or Cost-Sharing? Evidence from a Malaria Prevention Experiment," NBER Working Papers 14406, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    3. Rey Hernández-Julián & Hani Mansour & Christina Peters, 2014. "The Effects of Intrauterine Malnutrition on Birth and Fertility Outcomes: Evidence From the 1974 Bangladesh Famine," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1775-1796, October.
    4. R. Todd Jewell & Patricia Triunfo, 2006. "The impact of prenatal care on birthweight: the case of Uruguay," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(11), pages 1245-1250, November.
    5. David A. Jaeger & M. Daniele Paserman, 2008. "The Cycle of Violence? An Empirical Analysis of Fatalities in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1591-1604, September.
    6. Zapata, B.C. & Rebolledo, A. & Atalah, E. & Newman, B. & King, M.-C., 1992. "The influence of social and political violence on the risk of pregnancy complications," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 82(5), pages 685-690.
    7. Mansour, Hani, 2010. "The effects of labor supply shocks on labor market outcomes: Evidence from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 930-939, December.
    8. A. Colin Cameron & Douglas L. Miller, 2010. "Robust Inference with Clustered Data," Working Papers 318, University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
    9. Ming-Jen Lin & Jin-Tan Liu & Shin-Yi Chou, 2007. "As low birth weight babies grow, can well-educated parents buffer this adverse factor? A research note," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(2), pages 335-343, May.
    10. Hilary W. Hoynes & Marianne E. Page & Ann Huff Stevens, 2009. "Is a WIC Start a Better Start? Evaluating WIC's Impact on Infant Health Using Program Introduction," NBER Working Papers 15589, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. A. Colin Cameron & Douglas L. Miller, 2010. "Robust Inference with Clustered Data," Working Papers 107, University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
    12. Rosemary Hyson & Janet Currie, 1999. "Is the Impact of Health Shocks Cushioned by Socioeconomic Status? The Case of Low Birthweight," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 245-250, May.
    13. Florencia Torche, 2011. "The Effect of Maternal Stress on Birth Outcomes: Exploiting a Natural Experiment," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(4), pages 1473-1491, November.
    14. Philip Oreopoulos & Mark Stabile & Randy Walld & Leslie L. Roos, 2008. "Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Consequences of Poor Infant Health: An Analysis Using Siblings and Twins," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(1).
    15. Grossman, Michael & Joyce, Theodore J, 1990. "Unobservables, Pregnancy Resolutions, and Birth Weight Production Functions in New York City," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 983-1007, October.
    16. Diane Lauderdale, 2006. "Birth outcomes for Arabic-named women in California before and after September 11," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 185-201, February.
    17. 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, November.
    18. Awad Mataria & Rita Giacaman & Angelo Stefanini & Nirmala Naidoo & Paul Kowal & Somnath Chatterji, 2009. "The quality of life of Palestinians living in chronic conflict: assessment and determinants," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 10(1), pages 93-101, February.
    19. Ming-Jen Lin & Jin-Tan Liu & Shin-Yi Chou, 2007. "As Low Birth Weight Babies Grow, Can 'Good' Parents Buffer this Adverse Factor? A Research Note," NBER Working Papers 12857, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Jessica Cohen & Pascaline Dupas, 2010. "Free Distribution or Cost-Sharing? Evidence from a Randomized Malaria Prevention Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 1-45.
    21. Adriana Camacho, 2008. "Stress and Birth Weight: Evidence from Terrorist Attacks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 511-515, May.
    22. Douglas Almond & Janet Currie, 2011. "Killing Me Softly: The Fetal Origins Hypothesis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(3), pages 153-172, Summer.
    23. Jeffrey J. Rous & R. Todd Jewell & Robert W. Brown, 2004. "The effect of prenatal care on birthweight: a full‐information maximum likelihood approach," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(3), pages 251-264, March.
    24. Elaine Kelly, 2011. "The Scourge of Asian Flu: In utero Exposure to Pandemic Influenza and the Development of a Cohort of British Children," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 46(4), pages 669-694.
    25. Douglas Almond & Bhashkar Mazumder, 2011. "Health Capital and the Prenatal Environment: The Effect of Ramadan Observance during Pregnancy," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 56-85, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mansour, Hani & Rees, Daniel I., 2011. "The Effect of Prenatal Stress on Birth Weight: Evidence from the al-Aqsa Intifada," IZA Discussion Papers 5535, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Lautharte, Ildo, 2021. "Babies and Bandidos: Birth outcomes in pacified favelas of Rio de Janeiro," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Lin, Ming-Jen & Liu, Elaine M., 2014. "Does in utero exposure to Illness matter? The 1918 influenza epidemic in Taiwan as a natural experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 152-163.
    4. Richter, André & Robling, Per Olof, 2013. "Multigenerational e ffects of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic in Sweden," Working Paper Series 5/2013, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    5. Dagnelie, Olivier & Luca, Giacomo Davide De & Maystadt, Jean-François, 2018. "Violence, selection and infant mortality in Congo," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 153-177.
    6. Armijos Bravo, Grace & Vall Castelló, Judit, 2021. "Terrorist attacks, Islamophobia and newborns’ health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Bejenariu, Simona & Mitrut, Andreea, 2012. "Austerity Measures and Infant Health. Lessons from an Unexpected Wage Cut Policy," Working Paper Series, Center for Labor Studies 2012:5, Uppsala University, Department of Economics, revised 10 Oct 2013.
    8. Le, Kien & Nguyen, My, 2020. "Armed conflict and birth weight," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    9. Ryan Brown, 2018. "The Mexican Drug War and Early-Life Health: The Impact of Violent Crime on Birth Outcomes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 319-340, February.
    10. Manacorda, Marco & Koppensteiner, Martin Foureaux, 2013. "The Effect of Violence on Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Homicides in Rural Brazil," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4613, Inter-American Development Bank.
    11. Shirlee Lichtman-Sadot & Neta Benshalom-Tirosh & Eyal Sheiner, 2020. "Conflict, Rockets, and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Israel’s Operation Protective Edge," Working Papers 2009, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    12. Bobonis, Gustavo J. & Stabile, Mark & Tovar, Leonardo, 2020. "Military training exercises, pollution, and their consequences for health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    13. Andalón, Mabel & Azevedo, João Pedro & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos & Sanfelice, Viviane & Valderrama-González, Daniel, 2016. "Weather Shocks and Health at Birth in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 69-82.
    14. Berthelon, Matias & Kruger, Diana & Sanchez, Rafael, 2021. "Maternal stress during pregnancy and early childhood development," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    15. Viviane Sanfelice, 2022. "Mosquito‐borne disease and newborn health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 73-93, January.
    16. Arna Olafsson, 2016. "Household Financial Distress and Initial Endowments: Evidence from the 2008 Financial Crisis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 43-56, November.
    17. Victor Lavy & Analia Schlosser & Adi Shany, 2016. "Out of Africa: Human Capital Consequences of In Utero Conditions," NBER Working Papers 21894, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Akbulut-Yuksel, Mevlude & Cilasun, Seyit Mümin & Turan, Belgi, 2020. "Children of Crisis: The Effects of Economic Shocks on Newborns," IZA Discussion Papers 12898, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Hoa Vu, 2024. "I wish I were born in another time: Unintended consequences of immigration enforcement on birth outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 345-362, February.
    20. Tian, Xinping & Gong, Jinquan & Zhai, Zhe, 2022. "Natural disasters and human capital accumulation: Evidence from the 1976 Tangshan earthquake," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Birth weight; Prenatal stress; Malnutrition; Israeli–Palestinian conflict;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:99:y:2012:i:1:p:190-199. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/devec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.