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Announcement effects of health policy reforms: evidence from the abolition of Austria’s baby bonus

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  • Beatrice Brunner
  • Andreas Kuhn

Abstract

We analyze the short-run fertility and health effects resulting from the early announcement of the abolition of the Austrian baby bonus in January 1997. The abolition of the benefit was publicly announced about 10 months in advance, creating the opportunity for prospective parents to (re-)schedule conceptions accordingly. We find robust evidence that, within the month before the abolition, about 8 % more children were born as a result of (re-)scheduling conceptions. At the same time, there is no evidence that mothers deliberately manipulated the date of birth through medical intervention. We also find a substantial and significant increase in the fraction of birth complications, but no evidence for any resulting adverse effects on newborns’ health. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

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  • Beatrice Brunner & Andreas Kuhn, 2014. "Announcement effects of health policy reforms: evidence from the abolition of Austria’s baby bonus," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(4), pages 373-388, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:15:y:2014:i:4:p:373-388
    DOI: 10.1007/s10198-013-0481-4
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    Cited by:

    1. Christian Raschke, 2016. "The Impact of the German Child Benefit on Household Expenditures and Consumption," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 17(4), pages 438-477, November.
    2. Mireille Jacobson & Maria Kogelnik & Heather Royer, 2021. "Holiday, Just One Day out of Life: Birth Timing and Postnatal Outcomes," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(S2), pages 651-702.
    3. Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave & Nancy E. Reichman, 2018. "Evolution of the Infant Health Production Function," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(1), pages 6-47, July.
    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. Cygan-Rehm, Kamila & Karbownik, Krzysztof, 2022. "The effects of incentivizing early prenatal care on infant health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Johansson, Naimi & de New, Sonja C. & Kunz, Johannes S. & Petrie, Dennis & Svensson, Mikael, 2023. "Reductions in out-of-pocket prices and forward-looking moral hazard in health care demand," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    7. Natalia Danzer & Victor Lavy, 2018. "Paid Parental Leave and Children's Schooling Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(608), pages 81-117, February.
    8. Botezat, Alina, 2017. "Austerity plan announcements and the impact on the employees’ wellbeing," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-16.
    9. Naimi Johansson & Niklas Jakobsson & Mikael Svensson, 2019. "Effects of primary care cost-sharing among young adults: varying impact across income groups and gender," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(8), pages 1271-1280, November.
    10. 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.
    11. 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

    Keywords

    Baby bonus; Scheduling of conceptions; Timing of births; Policy announcement; Announcement effect; Birth complications; Medical intervention; H31; J13;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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