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Aggregate economic shocks and infant mortality: New evidence for middle-income countries

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  • Schady, Norbert
  • Smitz, Marc-Francois

Abstract

We provide country-specific estimates of the effect of macroeconomic shocks on infant mortality for a sample of mainly middle-income countries. In most countries, infant mortality appears to be pro-cyclical or acyclical. Only when shocks to GDP are very deep, 15% or larger, are they consistently associated with higher mortality.

Suggested Citation

  • Schady, Norbert & Smitz, Marc-Francois, 2010. "Aggregate economic shocks and infant mortality: New evidence for middle-income countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 145-148, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:108:y:2010:i:2:p:145-148
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rajeev Dehejia & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2004. "Booms, Busts, and Babies' Health," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(3), pages 1091-1130.
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    3. Christina Paxson & Norbert Schady, 2005. "Child Health and Economic Crisis in Peru," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(2), pages 203-223.
    4. Kenneth Y. Chay & Michael Greenstone, 2003. "The Impact of Air Pollution on Infant Mortality: Evidence from Geographic Variation in Pollution Shocks Induced by a Recession," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 1121-1167.
    5. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Schady, Norbert, 2008. "Aggregate economic shocks, child schooling and child health," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4701, The World Bank.
    6. Robert Jensen, 2000. "Agricultural Volatility and Investments in Children," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 399-404, May.
    7. Sarah Baird & Jed Friedman & Norbert Schady, 2011. "Aggregate Income Shocks and Infant Mortality in the Developing World," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 847-856, August.
    8. Friedman, Jed & Schady, Norbert, 2009. "How many more infants are likely to die in Africa as a result of the global financial crisis ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5023, The World Bank.
    9. repec:bla:obuest:v:63:y:2001:i:4:p:409-36 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Bhalotra, Sonia, 2010. "Fatal fluctuations? Cyclicality in infant mortality in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 7-19, September.
    11. John Hoddinott & Bill Kinsey, 2001. "Child Growth in the Time of Drought," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(4), pages 409-436, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. G. Naline & Brinda Viswanathan, 2017. "Predictors of Age-Specific Childhood Mortality in India," Working Papers 2017-167, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    2. Cruces, Guillermo & Glüzmann, Pablo & Calva, Luis Felipe López, 2012. "Economic Crises, Maternal and Infant Mortality, Low Birth Weight and Enrollment Rates: Evidence from Argentina’s Downturns," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 303-314.
    3. Gonzalez, Fidel & Quast, Troy, 2010. "Mortality and business cycles by level of development: Evidence from Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(12), pages 2066-2073, December.
    4. Doerr, Sebastian & Hofmann, Boris, 2022. "Recessions and mortality: A global perspective," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    5. Cruces, Guillermo & Gluzmann, Pablo & Lopez-Calva, Luis Felipe, 2010. "Permanent Effects of Economic Crises on Household Welfare: Evidence and Projections from Argentina’s Downturns," MPRA Paper 42949, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Grace Lepone & Joakim Westerholm & Danika Wright, 2023. "Speculative trading preferences of retail investor birth cohorts," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 555-574, March.
    7. Wen-Yi Chen, 2016. "Health progress and economic growth in the USA: the continuous wavelet analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 831-855, May.
    8. Jed Friedman & Norbert Schady, 2013. "How Many Infants Likely Died In Africa As A Result Of The 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(5), pages 611-622, May.
    9. Grant Miller & B. Piedad Urdinola, 2010. "Cyclicality, Mortality, and the Value of Time: The Case of Coffee Price Fluctuations and Child Survival in Colombia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(1), pages 113-155, February.
    10. Asali , Muhammad, 2015. "Recessions are not good for your health: the counter-cyclical health outcomes revisited," European Economic Letters, European Economics Letters Group, vol. 4(1), pages 11-14.
    11. Pérez-Moreno, Salvador & Blanco-Arana, María C. & Bárcena-Martín, Elena, 2016. "Economic cycles and child mortality: A cross-national study of the least developed countries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 14-23.
    12. Pierre-Emmanuel Darpeix, 2019. "Literature review on the consequences of food price spikes and price volatility," PSE Working Papers hal-02072329, HAL.
    13. Pierre-Emmanuel Darpeix, 2019. "Literature review on the consequences of food price spikes and price volatility," Working Papers hal-02072329, HAL.
    14. Wang, Shaobin & Wu, Jun, 2020. "Spatial heterogeneity of the associations of economic and health care factors with infant mortality in China using geographically weighted regression and spatial clustering," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    15. Siwei Guo & Zhaopeng Qu & Weizeng Sun & Ming‐ang Zhang, 2024. "Special economic zone and infant mortality: Evidence from China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(8), pages 1660-1681, August.
    16. Edit V. Velenyi & Marc F. Smitz, 2014. "Cyclical Patterns in Government Health Expenditures Between 1995 and 2010," Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Discussion Paper Series 87885, The World Bank.
    17. Angelini, Viola & Mierau, Jochen O., 2014. "Born at the right time? Childhood health and the business cycle," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 35-43.

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    Keywords

    Income shocks Infant mortality;

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