Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/197288 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 354
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
Family structure is usually believed to affect children's human capital. Is it possible that causality goes in the opposite direction? This paper shows that the behavior of family structure variables over the life cycle dramatically changes when women have babies in their forties. These data regularities align with a significant increase in the risk of having a child with health problems when women enter the last decade of their reproductive life. I present a simple theoretical model that provides a common underlying explanation for the data patterns and generates additional testable implications. I estimate the model predictions using ACS data.
Subjects: 
child health
family structure
advanced maternal age
JEL: 
J12
J13
I12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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