The effect of breastfeeding on children’s cognitive development

Maria Iacovou and Almudena Sevilla ()

No 2010-40, ISER Working Paper Series from Institute for Social and Economic Research

Abstract: This paper uses Propensity Score Matching to investigate the causal effect of breastfeeding on children’s cognitive development. There is a strong association between breastfeeding and cognitive outcomes; however, it is notoriously difficult to establish whether this is causal, or whether it arises because mothers who breastfeed tend to be those whose children would do better anyway. Using PSM, we find that breastfeeding for four weeks has a positive and significant effect on test scores, in the order of one tenth of a standard deviation. Thus, interventions which increase breastfeeding rates may improve not only children’s health, but also their cognitive skills.

Date: 2010-12-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-neu
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