The Effect of Violence on Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Homicides in Rural Brazil

Marco Manacorda and Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner

No 4613, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: This paper uses microdata from Brazilian vital statistics natality and mortality data between 2000 and 2010 to estimate the impact of in-utero exposure to local violence -measured by homicide rates- on birth outcomes. Focusing on small communities, where it is more plausible that local homicide rates reflect actual exposure to violence, the analysis shows that exposure to violence during pregnancy leads to deterioration in birth outcomes: one extra homicide during the first trimester of pregnancy increases the probability of low birthweight by around 6 percent. Results are particularly pronounced among children of poorly educated mothers, implying that violence compounds the disadvantage that these children already suffer as a result of their households¿ lower socioeconomic status.

Keywords: Birthweight; Cost of crime; Prenatal stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I14 J13 J88 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english ... -in-Rural-Brazil.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Effect of Violence on Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Homicides in Rural Brazil (2013)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:4613

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Felipe Herrera Library ().