Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/279000 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16302
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This study explores whether hospitals with higher increases in obesity levels have higher CS rates and the consequential effects on maternal and newborn health in Mexico for 2008-2015. It models how changes in the obesity level of hospitals' patient pools may affect the quantity and quality of care by focusing on the use of CS and the potential returns to specialization. And it creates a measure of hospital-level obesity, based on the fraction of obesity-related discharges for women of childbearing age. Exploiting temporal and hospital variation of this measure, results show that higher hospital-level obesity increases a woman's probability of having a CS. Also, delivery-related birth outcomes improve: maternal mortality, birth injuries, and birth trauma decrease. The evidence is consistent with hospital-level specialization in CS leading to better birth outcomes.
Subjects: 
healthcare specialization
c-sections
obesity
maternal mortality
newborn health
JEL: 
I11
I18
J13
D22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
931.44 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.