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American Economic Review Vol. 104 No. 12 2014

The Effects of Poor Neonatal Health on Children's Cognitive Development

David Figlio1; Jonathan Guryan1; Krzysztof Karbownik2; Jeffrey Roth3

1 Northwestern University, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, and NBER (e-mail: ) · 2 Northwestern University, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, and Uppsala University (e-mail: ) · 3 1701 SW 16th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32608 (e-mail: ).

Abstract

We make use of a new data resource--merged birth and school records for all children born in Florida from 1992 to 2002--to study the relationship between birth weight and cognitive development. Using singletons as well as twin and sibling fixed effects models, we find that the effects of early health on cognitive development are essentially constant through the school career; that these effects are similar across a wide range of family backgrounds; and that they are invariant to measures of school quality. We conclude that the effects of early health on adult outcomes are therefore set very early.

DOI
10.1257/aer.104.12.3921
Volume
104
Issue
12
Pages
3921-3955
Language
en
Sources
openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref

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