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Still Unequal At Birth: Birth Weight, Socioeconomic Status,And Outcomes at Age 9

Author

Listed:
  • Mark E. McGovern

    (Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies)

Abstract
The prevalence of low birth weight is an important aspect of public health which has been linked to increased risk of infant death, increased cost of care, and a range of later life outcomes. Using data from a new Irish cohort study, I document the relationship between birth weight and socioeconomic status. The association of maternal education with birth weight does not appear to be due to the timing of birth or complications during pregnancy, even controlling for a wide range of background characteristics. However, results do suggest intergenerational persistence in the transmission of poor early life conditions. Birth weight predicts a number of outcomes at age 9, including test scores, hospital stays and health. An advantage of the data is that I am able to control for a number of typically unmeasured variables. I determine whether parental investments (as measured by the quality of interaction with the child, parenting style, or school quality) mediate the association between birth weight and later indicators. For test scores, there is evidence of non-linearity, and boys are more adversely a ected than girls. I also consider whether there are heterogeneous e ects by ability using quantile regression. These results are consistent with a literature which nds that there is a causal relationship between early life conditions and later outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark E. McGovern, 2012. "Still Unequal At Birth: Birth Weight, Socioeconomic Status,And Outcomes at Age 9," PGDA Working Papers 9512, Program on the Global Demography of Aging.
    • Handle: RePEc:gdm:wpaper:9512
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    File URL: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pgda/WorkingPapers/2012/PGDA_WP_95.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Childhood's legacy
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2012-11-06 20:01:55

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Deirdre Coy & Orla Doyle, 2020. "Should Early Health Investments Work? Evidence from an RCT of a Home Visiting Programme," Working Papers 202006, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    2. Babak Jahanshahi & Brian Johnston & Mark E. McGovern & Duncan McVicar & Dermot O’Reilly & Neil Rowland & Stavros Vlachos, 2024. "Prenatal exposure to particulate matter and infant birth outcomes: Evidence from a population‐wide database," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(9), pages 2182-2200, September.
    3. Mark E. McGovern & Slawa Rokicki, 2023. "The Great Recession, Household Income, and Children's Test Scores," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(3), pages 555-580, September.
    4. Mark E. McGovern, 2012. "Don't stress: early life conditions, hypertension and selection into associated risk factors," Working Papers 201223, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    5. Mark E. McGovern, 2019. "How much does birth weight matter for child health in developing countries? Estimates from siblings and twins," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 3-22, January.
    6. Nadja Klein & Thomas Kneib & Giampiero Marra & Rosalba Radice & Slawa Rokicki & Mark E. McGovern, 2018. "Mixed Binary-Continuous Copula Regression Models with Application to Adverse Birth Outcomes," CHaRMS Working Papers 18-06, Centre for HeAlth Research at the Management School (CHaRMS).
    7. Slawa Rokicki & Mark E. McGovern, 2020. "Heterogeneity in Early Life Investments: A Longitudinal Analysis of Children's Time Use," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(3), pages 647-676, September.
    8. Anne Nolan & Richard Layte, 2014. "Socio-economic Inequalities in Child Health in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 45(1), pages 25-64.
    9. Doris, Aedín & O’Neill, Donal & Sweetman, Olive, 2013. "Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 104-119.
    10. Mark E. McGovern, 2016. "Progress and the Lack of Progress in Addressing Infant Health and Infant Health Inequalities in Ireland during the 20th Century," Economics Working Papers 16-05, Queen's Management School, Queen's University Belfast.
    11. Sarah Gibney & Mark E. McGovern & Erika Sabbath, 2013. "Social Relationships in Later Life: The Role of Childhood Circumstances," Working Papers 201319, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    12. Clark, Andrew E. & D’Ambrosio, Conchita & Rohde, Nicholas, 2021. "Prenatal economic shocks and birth outcomes in UK cohort data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Early Life Conditions; Birth Weight; Health Inequalities; Test Scores;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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