Working Paper: NBER ID: w19434
Authors: Naci Mocan; Christian Raschke; Bulent Unel
Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of mothers' earnings on birth weight and gestational age of infants. It also analyzes the impact of earnings on mothers' consumption of prenatal medical care, and their propensity to smoke and drink during pregnancy. The paper uses census-division- and year-specific skill-biased technology shocks as an instrument for mothers' earnings and employs a two-sample instrumental variables strategy. About 14 million records of births between 1989 and 2004 are used from the Natality Detail files along with the CPS Annual Demographic Files from the same period. The results reveal that an increase in weekly earnings prompts an increase in prenatal care of low-skill mothers (those who have at most a high school degree) who are not likely to be on Medicaid, and that earnings have a small positive impact on birth weight and gestational age of the newborns of these mothers. An increase in earnings does not influence the health of newborns of high-skill mothers (those with at least some college education). Variations in earnings have no impact on birth weight for mothers who are likely to be on Medicaid.
Keywords: mothers earnings; infant health; prenatal care; birth weight; gestational age
JEL Codes: I10; I12; J31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increase in weekly earnings (J31) | increase in prenatal care consumption (J13) |
| increase in prenatal care consumption (J13) | increase in birth weight (J13) |
| increase in prenatal care consumption (J13) | increase in gestational age (O40) |
| increase in weekly earnings (J31) | increase in gestational age (O40) |
| increase in weekly earnings (J31) | increase in birth weight (J13) |
| increase in weekly earnings (J31) | no effect on birth weight for high-skilled mothers (J19) |
| increase in weekly earnings (J31) | no effect on prenatal care consumption for high-skilled mothers (J19) |
| increase in weekly earnings (J31) | no impact on birth weight for mothers likely to be on Medicaid (I18) |