Working Paper: NBER ID: w30047
Authors: Esra Kose; Siobhan M O'Keefe; Maria Rosales-Rueda
Abstract: Community Health Centers (CHCs) deliver primary care to underserved populations by locating sliding-scale clinics in economically disadvantaged areas. We investigate how this policy affected infant health using the rollout of CHCs and a flexible event study framework with Vital Statistics natality data. We find that maternal access to CHCs improves infant health outcomes within seven years after their introduction. Treatment-on-the-treated estimates show a 25 to 42 gram increase in birth weight and a 9% to 16% reduction in the likelihood of low birth weight. These improvements in infant health can be explained by increased access to early prenatal care and reductions in maternal smoking.
Keywords: community health centers; birth outcomes; infant health; primary health care
JEL Codes: I38; J13; O15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| maternal access to CHCs (J13) | improvements in infant health (I14) |
| maternal access to CHCs (J13) | increased access to early prenatal care (J13) |
| maternal access to CHCs (J13) | reductions in maternal smoking (J13) |
| increased access to early prenatal care (J13) | improvements in infant health (I14) |
| reductions in maternal smoking (J13) | improvements in infant health (I14) |
| maternal access to CHCs (J13) | improvements in infant health among low-educated mothers (I14) |