Working Paper: NBER ID: w30237
Authors: Osea Giuntella; Giulia La Mattina; Climent Quintanadomeque
Abstract: We use a unique data set of linked birth records from Florida to analyze the intergenerational transmission of health at birth by parental gender. We show that both paternal and maternal birth weights significantly predict the child’s birth weight, even after accounting for all genetic and environmental factors that are common and time-invariant within a family. Our estimates reveal that a one standard deviation increase in mother’s birth weight (535 grams) translates into a 0.13-0.24 standard deviations increase in child’s birth weight (70-128 grams), accounting or not for maternal grandmother fixed effects. On the father’s side, we find that a one standard deviation increase in father’s birth weight (563 grams) translates into a 0.10-0.15 standard deviations increase in child’s birth weight (56-78 grams), accounting or not for paternal grandmother fixed effects. The significant role of both maternal and paternal health at birth in explaining offspring health at birth is confirmed when using alternative metrics: intrauterine growth, being small for gestational age or being too heavy (i.e., macrosomic).
Keywords: intergenerational transmission; health at birth; birth weight; paternal health; maternal health
JEL Codes: I00; J10
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Maternal birth weight (J13) | Child birth weight (J13) |
| Paternal birth weight (J13) | Child birth weight (J13) |