Beyond Birthweight: The Origins of Human Capital

Gabriella Conti, Mark Hanson (), Hazel Inskip (), Sarah Crozier (), Cyrus Cooper () and Keith Godfrey ()
Additional contact information
Mark Hanson: University of Southampton
Hazel Inskip: University of Southampton
Sarah Crozier: University of Southampton
Cyrus Cooper: University of Southampton
Keith Godfrey: University of Southampton

No 13296, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Birth weight is the most widely used indicator of neonatal health, mainly because it is routinely recorded in birth registries. But are better measures available? We use unique data including fetal ultrasounds to show that more specific measures of the fetus and of the newborn are more informative about the prenatal environment and more predictive of child health and development, beyond birth weight. Our results are robust to correcting for measurement error and accounting for child- and mother-specific unobserved heterogeneity. Our analysis rationalizes a common finding in the early origins literature, that prenatal events can influence postnatal development without aecting birth outcomes.

Keywords: birth weight; fetal development; child health; developmental origins; measurement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 71 pages
Date: 2020-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Beyond Birth Weight: The Origins of Human Capital (2018)
Working Paper: Beyond birth weight: the origins of human capital (2018)
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