Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/170850 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 10866
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Data from the first two waves of the Fragile Family and Child Wellbeing study indicate that infants who look like their father at birth are healthier one year later. The reason is such father-child resemblance induces a father to spend more time engaged in positive parenting. An extra day (per month) of time-investment by a typical visiting father enhances child health by just over 10% of a standard deviation. This estimate is not biased by the effect of child health on father-involvement or omitted maternal ability, thereby eliminating endogeneity biases that plague existing studies. The result has implications regarding the role of a father's time in enhancing child health, especially in fragile families.
Subjects: 
child health
nonresident father
father-child resemblance
JEL: 
I12
J12
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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