The effects of incentivizing early prenatal care on infant health

Kamila Cygan-Rehm and Krzysztof Karbownik

Journal of Health Economics, 2022, vol. 83, issue C

Abstract: We investigate the effects of incentivizing early prenatal care utilization 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 identify modest 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: prenatal care; neonatal health; conditional cash transfers; prenatal care timing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
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)
Working Paper: The Effects of Incentivizing Early Prenatal Care on Infant Health (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:83:y:2022:i:c:s0167629622000327

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2022.102612

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