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From the Cradle to the Labor Market? The Effect of Birth Weight on Adult Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Black, Sandra E.

    (Columbia University)

  • Devereux, Paul J.

    (University College Dublin)

  • Salvanes, Kjell G.

    (Norwegian School of Economics)

Abstract

Lower birth weight babies have worse outcomes, both short-run in terms of one-year mortality rates and longer run in terms of educational attainment and earnings. However, recent research has called into question whether birth weight itself is important or whether it simply reflects other hard-to-measure characteristics. By applying within twin techniques using a unique dataset from Norway, we examine both short-run and long-run outcomes for the same cohorts. We find that birth weight does matter; very small short-run fixed effect estimates can be misleading because longer-run effects on outcomes such as height, IQ, earnings, and education are significant and similar in magnitude to OLS estimates. Our estimates suggest that eliminating birth weight differences between socio-economic groups would have sizeable effects on the later outcomes of children from poorer families.

Suggested Citation

  • Black, Sandra E. & Devereux, Paul J. & Salvanes, Kjell G., 2005. "From the Cradle to the Labor Market? The Effect of Birth Weight on Adult Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 1864, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1864
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; twins; birth weight; IQ; earnings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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