Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/34993 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3704
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper estimates a model of dynamic intrahousehold investment behavior which incorporates family fixed effects and child endowment heterogeneity. This framework is applied to large American and British survey data on birth outcomes, with focus on the effects of antenatal parental smoking and maternal labor supply net of other maternal behavior and child characteristics. We find that maternal smoking during pregnancy reduces birth weight and fetal growth, while paternal smoking has virtually no effect. Mothers' work interruptions of up to two months before birth have a positive effect on birth outcomes, especially among British children. Parental behavior appears to respond to permanent family-specific unobservables and to child idiosyncratic endowments in a way that suggests that parents have equal concerns, rather than efficiency motives, in allocating their prenatal inputs across children. Evidence of equal concerns emerges also from the analysis of breastfeeding decisions, although the effects in this case are weaker.
Subjects: 
Birth outcomes
smoking
mother's work
sibling estimators
instrumental variables
child health production functions
JEL: 
C33
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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