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The Impact of Scheduling Birth Early on Infant Health

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  • Cristina Borra
  • Libertad González
  • Almudena Sevilla

Abstract

We take advantage of a unique natural experiment to provide new, credible evidence on the health consequences of scheduling birth early for non-medical reasons. In May 2010, the Spanish government announced that a €2,500 universal “baby bonus” would stop being paid to babies born after December 31, 2010. Using administrative data from birth certificates and hospital records, we find that about 2,000 families shifted their date of birth from January 2011 to December 2010 (out of 9,000 weekly births). The affected babies, born about one week early on average, weighed about 200 g less at birth, and suffered a sizeable increase in hospitalization rates in the first two months of life, mostly for respiratory disease.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristina Borra & Libertad González & Almudena Sevilla, 2019. "The Impact of Scheduling Birth Early on Infant Health," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 30-78.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jeurec:v:17:y:2019:i:1:p:30-78.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeea/jvx060
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. #HEJC papers for September 2013
      by academichealtheconomists in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2013-09-01 04:01:38

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    Cited by:

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    2. Moberg, Ylva, 2019. "Speedy responses: Effects of higher benefits on take-up and division of parental leave," Working Paper Series 2019:2, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    3. Martin Halla & Chia-Lun Liu & Jin-Tan Liu, 2019. "The Effect of Superstition on Health: Evidence from the Taiwanese Ghost Month," Economics working papers 2019-01, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    4. Carolina Melo & Naercio Menezes‐Filho, 2023. "The effects of a national policy to reduce c‐sections in Brazil," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 501-517, February.
    5. Cristina Borra & Libertad González & Almudena Sevilla, 2016. "Birth Timing and Neonatal Health," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 329-332, May.
    6. Berniell, Inés & Estrada, Ricardo, 2020. "Poor little children: The socioeconomic gap in parental responses to school disadvantage," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Cygan-Rehm, Kamila & Karbownik, Krzysztof, 2022. "The effects of incentivizing early prenatal care on infant health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    8. Caroline Chuard & Patrick Chuard‐Keller, 2021. "Baby bonus in Switzerland: Effects on fertility, newborn health, and birth‐scheduling," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(9), pages 2092-2123, September.
    9. Moberg, Ylva, 2018. "Speedy Responses: Effects of Higher Benefits on Take-up and Division of Parental Leave," Working Paper Series 2018:14, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    10. Philippe Wingender & Sara LaLumia, 2015. "Income Effects in Labor Supply: Evidence from Child-Related Tax Benefits," Department of Economics Working Papers 2015-04, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    11. Victor Hugo de Oliveira & Ines Lee & Climent Quintana‐Domeque, 2022. "The effect of increasing Women's autonomy on primary and repeated caesarean sections in Brazil," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(8), pages 1800-1804, August.
    12. Huang, Cheng & Zhang, Shiying & Zhao, Qingguo & Lin, Yan, 2021. "Dragon year superstition, birth timing, and neonatal health outcomes," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    13. Cristina Borra & Libertad González & David Patiño, 2024. "Mothers' school starting age and infant health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 1153-1191, June.
    14. Hanna Mühlrad, 2022. "Cesarean sections for high‐risk births: health, fertility, and labor market outcomes," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(4), pages 1056-1086, October.
    15. Hendrik Jürges, 2017. "Financial incentives, timing of births, and infant health: a closer look into the delivery room," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 18(2), pages 195-208, March.
    16. de Elejalde, Ramiro & Giolito, Eugenio, 2021. "A demand-smoothing incentive for cesarean deliveries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    17. Mari, Gabriele, 2023. "Less for more? Cuts to child benefits, family adjustments, and long-run child outcomes in larger families," SocArXiv e3n82, Center for Open Science.
    18. Mika Akesaka & Nobuyoshi Kikuchi, 2021. "The Effects of Gender-Specific Local Labor Demand on Birth and Later Outcomes," ISER Discussion Paper 1153, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    19. de Gendre, Alexandra & Lynch, John & Meunier, Aurélie & Pilkington, Rhiannon & Schurer, Stefanie, 2021. "Child Health and Parental Responses to an Unconditional Cash Transfer at Birth," IZA Discussion Papers 14693, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Pilvar, Hanifa & Yousefi, Kowsar, 2021. "Changing physicians’ incentives to control the C-section rate: Evidence from a major health care reform in Iran," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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