Birth-spacing, fertility and neonatal mortality in India: Dynamics, frailty, and fecundity

Sonia Bhalotra () and Arthur van Soest ()

Journal of Econometrics, 2008, vol. 143, issue 2, pages 274-290

Abstract: Using microdata on 30,000 childbirths in India and dynamic panel data models, we analyse causal effects of birth-spacing on subsequent neonatal mortality and of mortality on subsequent birth intervals, controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. Right censoring is accounted for by jointly estimating a fertility equation, identified by using data on sterilization. We find evidence of frailty, fecundity, and causal effects in both directions. Birth intervals explain only a limited share of the correlation between neonatal mortality of successive children in a family. We predict that for every neonatal death, 0.37 additional children are born, of whom 0.30 survive.

Date: 2008

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Related works:
Working Paper: Birth Spacing, Fertility and Neonatal Mortality in India:Dynamics, Frailty and Fecundity (2007)
Working Paper: Birth Spacing, Fertility and Neonatal Mortality in India: Dynamics, Frailty and Fecundity (2006)
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