Evolution of the Infant Health Production Function

Hope Corman (), Dhaval Dave and Nancy E. Reichman ()

Working Papers from eSocialSciences

Abstract: This article provides a systematic review of the published literature to date on infant health production and how it has evolved over the past 3-4 decades as data have become more available, computing has improved, and econometric methods have become more sophisticated. While empirical research in most fields has expanded in corresponding ways, the infant health production research has become an important part of the broader and inherently multidisciplinary literature on intergenerational health. The strongest and most robust findings are that policies matter for infant health, particularly those affecting access to health care, and that prenatal smoking and other chemical exposures substantially compromise infant health. Promising directions for future research include elucidating relevant pathways, reconciling the largely inconsistent estimated effects of nutrition and education, and exploring the roles of preconceptional and lifetime health care, paternal factors, social support, housing, complementarity and substitutability of inputs, factors that modify effects of inputs, and evolving medical technologies.

Keywords: eSS; infant; infant health; infant health production; econometric methods; multidisciplinary literature; intergenerational health; health care; prenatal smoking; chemical exposures; nutrition; education; preconceptional; lifetime health care; paternal factors; social support; housing; complementarity; medical technologies. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-12
Note: Institutional Papers
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: Evolution of the Infant Health Production Function (2017)
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