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The demand for season of birth

Author

Listed:
  • Damian Clarke
  • Sonia Oreffice
  • Climent Quintana‐Domeque

Abstract

We study the determinants of season of birth for married women aged 20–45 in the USA, using birth certificate and Census data. We also elicit the willingness to pay for season of birth through discrete‐choice experiments implemented on the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. We document that the probability of a spring first birth is significantly related to mother's age, education, race, ethnicity, smoking status during pregnancy, receiving WIC (Women, Infants & Children) food benefits during pregnancy, prepregnancy obesity, and the mother working in “education, training, and library” occupations; whereas among unmarried women without a father acknowledged on their child's birth certificate, all our findings are muted. A summer first birth does not depend on socioeconomic characteristics, although it is the most common birth season in the USA. Among married women aged 20–45, we estimate the average marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for a spring birth to be 877 USD. This implies a willingness to trade‐off 560 grams of birth weight in the normal range to achieve a spring birth. Finally, we estimate that an increase of 1,000 USD in the predicted marginal WTP for a spring birth is associated with a 15 pp (percentage points) increase in the probability of obtaining an actual spring birth.

Suggested Citation

  • Damian Clarke & Sonia Oreffice & Climent Quintana‐Domeque, 2019. "The demand for season of birth," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(5), pages 707-723, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:japmet:v:34:y:2019:i:5:p:707-723
    DOI: 10.1002/jae.2711
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    Cited by:

    1. Fumarco, L. & Baert, S. & Sarracino, F., 2020. "Younger, dissatisfied, and unhealthy – Relative age in adolescence," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    2. Damian Clarke & Sonia Oreffice & Climent Quintana‐Domeque, 2021. "On the Value of Birth Weight," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(5), pages 1130-1159, October.
    3. Frodermann, Corinna & Wrohlich, Katharina & Zucco, Aline, 2020. "Parental leave reform and long-run earnings of mothers," IAB-Discussion Paper 202009, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    4. Fenoll, Ainoa Aparicio & Campaniello, Nadia & Monzón, Ignacio, 2025. "Parental love is not blind: Identifying selection into early school start," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    5. Nicolas Moreau, 2021. "The Zero Effect of Income Tax on the Timing of Birth: Some Evidence on French Data," Working Papers hal-03157256, HAL.
    6. Brewer, Mike & Cattan, Sarah & Crawford, Claire & Rabe, Birgitta, 2022. "Does more free childcare help parents work more?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    7. Libertad González Luna & Lidia Farré, 2017. "The effects of paternity leave on fertility and labor market outcomes," Economics Working Papers 1572, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    8. Fumarco, Luca & Baert, Stijn, 2018. "Younger and Dissatisfied? Relative Age and Life-satisfaction in Adolescence," GLO Discussion Paper Series 278, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Nicolas Moreau, 2023. "The zero effect of income tax on the timing of birth: some evidence on French data," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(3), pages 757-783, June.
    10. Doyle, Mary-Alice, 2023. "Seasonal patterns in newborns’ health: quantifying the roles of climate, communicable disease, economic and social factors," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119971, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Mariagrazia Cavallo & Elizabeth Dhuey & Luca Fumarco & Levi Halewyck & Simon ter Meulen, 2026. "The Economics of Age at School Entry: Insights from Evidence and Methods," CESifo Working Paper Series 12545, CESifo.
    12. Fumarco, Luca & Hartmann, Sven A. & Principe, Francesco, 2024. "A Neglected Determinant of Eating Behaviors: Relative Age," IZA Discussion Papers 16920, IZA Network @ LISER.
    13. Almond, Douglas & Cheng, Yi, 2021. "Perinatal health among 1 million Chinese-Americans," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    14. Marco Cozzani & Peter Fallesen & Juho Härkönen, 2025. "Temporal Changes in the Quantity of Conceptions Influence Preterm Births Rates at the Population Level," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2025_08, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    15. Wrohlich, Katharina & Zucco, Aline, 2023. "15 Jahre Elterngeld: Auswirkungen und Reformoptionen," Working Paper Forschungsförderung 281, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    16. Giuntella, Osea & La Mattina, Giulia & Quintana-Domeque, Climent, 2019. "Intergenerational Transmission of Health at Birth from Mothers and Fathers," IZA Discussion Papers 12105, IZA Network @ LISER.
    17. Kou, Zonglai & Zhao, Wentian & Zhou, Min, 2025. "Fertility impact of intense precipitation in rural areas: The role of income expectation shocks," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    18. Evgeny A. Antipov & Elena B. Pokryshevskaya, 2020. "Impact of superstitious beliefs on the timing of marriage and childbirth: Evidence from Denmark," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 15(5), pages 756-782, September.
    19. Conway, Karen Smith & Trudeau, Jennifer, 2019. "Sunshine, fertility and racial disparities," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 18-39.
    20. Frodermann, Corinna & Wrohlich, Katharina & Zucco, Aline, 2023. "Parental Leave Policy and Long-run Earnings of Mothers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    21. Doyle, Mary-Alice, 2023. "Seasonal patterns in newborns’ health: Quantifying the roles of climate, communicable disease, economic and social factors," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    22. Molina, Oswaldo & Saldarriaga, Victor, 2017. "The perils of climate change: In utero exposure to temperature variability and birth outcomes in the Andean region," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 111-124.
    23. Thiemo Fetzer & Oliver Pardo & Amar Shanghavi, 2018. "More than an urban legend: the short- and long-run effects of unplanned fertility shocks," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(4), pages 1125-1176, October.
    24. Abeliansky, Ana Lucia & Strulik, Holger, 2020. "Season of birth, health and aging," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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