Newborn health and the business cycle: Is it good to be born in bad times?

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• dc.contributor.author Aparicio, Ainhoaca
• dc.contributor.author González Luna, Libertadca
• dc.contributor.other Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Departament d'Economia i Empresa
• dc.date.accessioned 2017-07-26T10:50:05Z
• dc.date.available 2017-07-26T10:50:05Z
• dc.date.issued 2013-06-01
• dc.date.modified 2017-07-23T02:15:19Z
• dc.description.abstract We study the effect of the business cycle on the health of newborn babies using 30 years of birth certificate data for Spain. Exploiting regional variation over time, we find that babies are born healthier when the local unemployment rate is high. Although fertility is lower during recessions, the effect on health is not the result of selection (healthier mothers being more likely to conceive when unemployment is high). We match multiple births to the same parents and find that the main result survives the inclusion of parents fixed-effects. We then explore a range of maternal behaviors as potential channels. Fertility-age women do not appear to engage in significantly healthier behaviors during recessions (in terms of exercise, nutrition, smoking and drinking). However, they are more likely to be out of work. Maternal employment during pregnancy is in turn negatively correlated with babies' health. We conclude that maternal employment is a plausible mediating channel.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdfca
• dc.identifier https://econ-papers.upf.edu/ca/paper.php?id=1374
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/20809
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.relation.ispartofseries Economics and Business Working Papers Series; 1374
• dc.rights L'accés als continguts d'aquest document queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
• dc.subject.keyword recessions
• dc.subject.keyword business cycles
• dc.subject.keyword infant health
• dc.subject.keyword fertility
• dc.subject.keyword birth weight
• dc.subject.keyword infant mortality
• dc.subject.keyword spain.
• dc.subject.keyword Labour, Public, Development and Health Economics
• dc.subject.keyword Statistics, Econometrics and Quantitative Methods
• dc.title Newborn health and the business cycle: Is it good to be born in bad times?ca
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/workingPaper