Maternal Investments in Children: The Role of Expected Effort and Returns

Sonia Bhalotra, Adeline Delavande, Paulino Font Gilabert and Joanna Maselko ()
Additional contact information
Adeline Delavande: University of Technology, Sydney
Paulino Font Gilabert: University of Essex
Joanna Maselko: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

No 13056, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigate the importance of subjective expectations of returns to and effort costs of the two main investments that mothers make in newborns: breastfeeding and stimulation. We find heterogeneity across mothers in expected effort costs and expected returns for outcomes in the cognitive, socio-emotional and health domains, and we show that this contributes to explaining heterogeneity in investments. We find no significant heterogeneity in preferences for child developmental outcomes. We simulate the impact of various policies on investments. Our findings highlight the relevance of interventions designed to reduce perinatal fatigue alongside interventions that increase perceived returns to investments.

Keywords: psychic costs; maternal depression; beliefs; child development; early life; maternal investment; subjective expectations; effort costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I15 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 81 pages
Date: 2020-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published - published online in: Economic Journal , 26 June 2024

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Working Paper: Maternal investments in children: the role of expected effort and returns (2020)
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