The Effects of Incentivizing Early Prenatal Care on Infant Health

Kamila Cygan-Rehm and Krzysztof Karbownik

No 13874, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigated the effects of the timing of early prenatal care on infant health by exploiting a reform that required expectant mothers to initiate prenatal care during the first ten weeks of gestation to obtain a one-time monetary transfer paid after childbirth. Applying a difference-in-differences design to individual-level data on the population of births and fetal deaths, we identified small but statistically significant positive effects of the policy on neonatal health. We further provide suggestive evidence that improved maternal health-related knowledge and behaviors during pregnancy are plausible channels through which the reform might have affected fetal health.

Keywords: conditional cash transfers; neonatal health; prenatal care; prenatal care timing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 55 pages
Date: 2020-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Journal of Health Economics, 2022, 83, 102612

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Related works:
Journal Article: The effects of incentivizing early prenatal care on infant health (2022)
Working Paper: The Effects of Incentivizing Early Prenatal Care on Infant Health (2022)
Working Paper: The Effects of Incentivizing Early Prenatal Care on Infant Health (2020)
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