Healthier Starts: The intergenerational Effects of Maternal General Skills

Cristina Borra, Pilar Cuevas-Ruiz and Almudena Sevilla

No 2026-10, Working Papers from FEDEA

Abstract: We examine the long-term e!ects of maternal general education on infant health, leveraging a nationwide secondary school reform in Spain that expanded academic instruction without increasing years of schooling. Using newly digitized enrollment data linked to administrative birth records, we find that the reform significantly reduced very preterm birth and overall prematurity, with gains concentrated at the lower tail of the gestational age distribution. Mechanism evidence from high-quality adult survey data is consistent with reform-induced improvements in women’s information-processing skills, reductions in risky prenatal behaviors, higher labor force participation, and more e!ective family planning.

Date: 2026-10
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