Working Paper: NBER ID: w20525
Authors: Alice Chen; Emily Oster; Heidi Williams
Abstract: The US has higher infant mortality than peer countries. In this paper, we combine micro-data from the US with similar data from four European countries to investigate this US infant mortality disadvantage. The US disadvantage persists after adjusting for potential differential reporting of births near the threshold of viability. While the importance of birth weight varies across comparison countries, relative to all comparison countries the US has similar neonatal (<1 month) mortality but higher postneonatal (1-12 months) mortality. We document similar patterns across Census divisions within the US. The postneonatal mortality disadvantage is driven by poor birth outcomes among lower socioeconomic status individuals.
Keywords: infant mortality; cross-country comparison; socioeconomic status; birth weight; postneonatal mortality
JEL Codes: I01; I14
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| differential reporting of births (J19) | US infant mortality disadvantage (I14) |
| birth weight (J13) | US infant mortality rate disadvantage relative to Finland and Belgium (I14) |
| birth weight (J13) | US infant mortality rate disadvantage relative to Austria and the UK (I14) |
| normal birth weight infants in the US (J13) | higher infant mortality rate compared to Europe (N33) |
| neonatal mortality disadvantage (J13) | US infant mortality rate (I14) |
| postneonatal mortality disadvantage (J17) | US infant mortality rate (I14) |
| policies targeting the postneonatal period (J13) | addressing US infant mortality disadvantage (I14) |