Place Effects and Geographic Inequality in Health at Birth

Eric Chyn and Na'ama Shenhav

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2025, vol. 17, issue 4, 260-91

Abstract: This paper uses birth records and mothers who move to quantify the absolute and relative importance of birth location for early-life health. Using a model that includes mother and location fixed effects, we find that moving from a below- to an above-median-birth-weight location leads to important improvements in child birth weight, with comparable magnitudes to policies targeting maternal health. Place effects are larger for longer-distance moves and more influential for children of non-college-educated mothers. We find that pollution is the strongest predictor of place effects on infant health.

JEL-codes: I12 I14 J13 J16 Q51 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Working Paper: Place Effects and Geographic Inequality in Health at Birth (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:17:y:2025:i:4:p:260-91

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DOI: 10.1257/pol.20230011

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