Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282619 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16492
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Newborn health is an important component in the chain of intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. This paper contributes to the literature on the determinants of health at birth in two ways. First, we analyze the role of maternal endowments and investments (education and smoking in pregnancy) on the probability of having a baby who is small for gestational age (SGA). We estimate both the total impact of maternal endowments on birth outcomes, and we also decompose it into a direct, "biological" effect and a "choice" effect, mediated by maternal behaviors. Second, we estimate the causal effects of maternal education and smoking in pregnancy, and investigate whether women endowed with different traits have different returns. We find that maternal cognition affects birth outcomes primarily through maternal education, that personality traits mainly operate by changing maternal smoking, and that the physical fitness of the mother has a direct, "biological" effect on SGA. We find significant heterogeneity in the effects of education and smoking along the distribution of maternal physical traits, suggesting that women with less healthy physical constitutions should be the primary target of prenatal interventions.
Subjects: 
health production
intergenerational transmission
human capital
JEL: 
I12
I14
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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