Early Life Health Interventions and Academic Achievement

Prashant Bharadwaj, Katrine Vellesen L?ken and Christopher Neilson
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Katrine Vellesen Løken

American Economic Review, 2013, vol. 103, issue 5, 1862-91

Abstract: This paper studies the effect of improved early life health care on mortality and long-run academic achievement in school. We use the idea that medical treatments often follow rules of thumb for assigning care to patients, such as the classification of Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW), which assigns infants special care at a specific birth weight cutoff. Using detailed administrative data on schooling and birth records from Chile and Norway, we establish that children who receive extra medical care at birth have lower mortality rates and higher test scores and grades in school. These gains are in the order of 0.15-0.22 standard deviations.

JEL-codes: I11 I12 I18 I21 J13 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.5.1862
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (133)

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Related works:
Working Paper: EARLY LIFE HEALTH INTERVENTIONS AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT (2012)
Working Paper: Early Life Health Interventions and Academic Achievement (2012)
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