IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp18386.html

Political Stressors and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

Author

Listed:
  • Golberstein, Ezra

    (University of Minnesota)

  • Guth, Daniel

    (University of Rochester)

  • Slusky, David

    (University of Kansas)

Abstract

We study political shocks as potential birth outcomes stressors, specifically the unexpected result of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. We investigate this two-sided shock using an innovative data linkage: Colorado voter registrations and birth certificates, matched by sex, birth year, and name. Contrary to our hypotheses, we do not find an effect on birth outcomes. We do find some evidence that stress-related behaviors in pregnancy worsened for Democrats. This research adds new evidence on the effects of in-utero exposure to two-sided stressors, uses a novel data linkage, and expands the new economics area of politics as a determinant of health.

Suggested Citation

  • Golberstein, Ezra & Guth, Daniel & Slusky, David, 2026. "Political Stressors and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election," IZA Discussion Papers 18386, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18386
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp18386.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Quintana-Domeque, Climent & Ródenas-Serrano, Pedro, 2017. "The hidden costs of terrorism: The effects on health at birth," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 47-60.
    2. Currie, Janet & Rossin-Slater, Maya, 2013. "Weathering the storm: Hurricanes and birth outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 487-503.
    3. Janet Currie & Michael Mueller-Smith & Maya Rossin-Slater, 2022. "Violence While in Utero: The Impact of Assaults during Pregnancy on Birth Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 525-540, May.
    4. Douglas Almond & Janet Currie & Valentina Duque, 2018. "Childhood Circumstances and Adult Outcomes: Act II," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1360-1446, December.
    5. 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.
    6. W. Ben Mccartney & John Orellana‐Li & Calvin Zhang, 2024. "Political Polarization Affects Households' Financial Decisions: Evidence from Home Sales," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(2), pages 795-841, April.
    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. Falk A C Voit & Eero Kajantie & Sakari Lemola & Katri Räikkönen & Dieter Wolke & Daniel D Schnitzlein, 2022. "Maternal mental health and adverse birth outcomes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(8), pages 1-18, August.
    2. Sulin Sardoschau, 2023. "In-utero Exposure to Violence and Child Health in Iraq," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 452, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    3. Sulin Sardoschau, 2024. "In utero exposure to violence and child health in Iraq," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 1-31, June.
    4. Berthelon, Matias & Kruger, Diana & Sanchez, Rafael, 2021. "Maternal stress during pregnancy and early childhood development," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    5. Sulin Sardoschau, 2019. "Children of War: In-Utero Stress and Child Health in Iraq," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02383137, HAL.
    6. Chuard, Caroline, 2020. "Womb at work: The missing impact of maternal employment on newborn health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Eskander, Shaikh M.S.U. & Barbier, Edward B., 2022. "Long-term impacts of the 1970 cyclone in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    9. Hoyong Jung, 2023. "Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-22, February.
    10. Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll & Libertad González, 2021. "Political instability and birth outcomes: Evidence from the 1981 military coup in Spain," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 328-341, February.
    11. Mrejen, Matias & Perelman, Julian & Machado, Danielle Carusi, 2020. "Environmental disasters and birth outcomes: Impact of a tailings dam breakage in Brazil," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    12. Balsa, Ana I. & Triunfo, Patricia, 2022. "The COVID-19 pandemic and birth outcomes in 2020: The role of prenatal care and other channels," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    13. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Brandyn Churchill & Yang Song, 2022. "Immigration Enforcement and Infant Health," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(3), pages 323-358.
    14. Timilsina, Laxman, 2023. "Immigration policy shocks and infant health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    15. Hamid Noghanibehambari & Jason Fletcher, 2022. "Dust to Feed, Dust to Grey: The Effect of In-Utero Exposure to the Dust Bowl on Old-Age Longevity," NBER Working Papers 30531, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Beuermann, Diether & Pecha, Camilo & Schmid, Juan Pedro, 2017. "The Effects of Weather Shocks on Early Childhood Development," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8543, Inter-American Development Bank.
    17. Victor Hugo de Oliveira & Ines Lee & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2023. "Natural Disasters and Early Human Development: Hurricane Catarina and Infant Health in Brazil," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(3), pages 819-851.
    18. 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.
    19. Elmallakh, Nelly Youssef Louis William & Gatti, Roberta V. & Islam, Asif Mohammed & Mousa, Mennatallah Emam Mohamed Sayed, 2025. "Long-Term Effects of Early Childhood Exposure to Droughts in MENA," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11190, The World Bank.
    20. Rong Fu & Yunkyu Sohn & Yichen Shen & Haruko Noguchi, 2025. "Invisible Threat, Tangible Harm: Radiation Anxiety and Birth Outcomes After Fukushima," Working Papers 2527, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp18386. 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: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.html .

    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.