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Do lower birth weight babies have lower grades? Twin fixed effect and instrumental variable method evidence from Taiwan

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  • Lin, Ming-Jen
  • Liu, Jin-Tan

Abstract

By combining two unique Taiwanese datasets, this paper investigates how birth weight affects grades at age 15 years. To tackle the endogeneity problem caused by omitted variables, we first compare birth weight and grade variation within twins. We find that birth weight does increase grades but only when both twins weigh less than 3000Â g at birth, which indicates that the effect is non-linear, and when the weight difference between the twins is larger than 200Â g. Furthermore, twin fixed effect estimates are similar to the ordinary least squares (OLSs) ones. We then use the public health budget and the number of doctors in the county where the children were born as instrumental variables for the children's birth weight. We found that instrumental variable estimates are significant only for the less educated (

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  • Lin, Ming-Jen & Liu, Jin-Tan, 2009. "Do lower birth weight babies have lower grades? Twin fixed effect and instrumental variable method evidence from Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 1780-1787, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:68:y:2009:i:10:p:1780-1787
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    1. Maruyama, Shiko & Heinesen, Eskil, 2020. "Another look at returns to birthweight," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    2. Almond, Douglas & Currie, Janet, 2011. "Human Capital Development before Age Five," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 15, pages 1315-1486, Elsevier.
    3. Mark E. Mcgovern, 2013. "Still Unequal at Birth: Birth Weight,Socio-economic Status and Outcomes at Age 9," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(1), pages 53-84.
    4. Amelia A. Hawkins & Christopher A. Hollrah & Sarah Miller & Laura R. Wherry & Gloria Aldana & Mitchell D. Wong, 2023. "The Long-Term Effects of Income for At-Risk Infants: Evidence from Supplemental Security Income," NBER Working Papers 31746, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Santosh Kumar & Kaushalendra Kumar & Ramanan Laxminarayan & Arindam Nandi, 2022. "Birth Weight and Cognitive Development during Childhood: Evidence from India," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 41(2), pages 155-175, June.
    6. Liu, Yunqiang & Zhu, Jialing & Li, Eldon Y. & Meng, Zhiyi & Song, Yan, 2020. "Environmental regulation, green technological innovation, and eco-efficiency: The case of Yangtze river economic belt in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    7. Nakamuro, Makiko & Uzuki, Yuka & Inui, Tomohiko, 2013. "The effects of birth weight: Does fetal origin really matter for long-run outcomes?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 53-58.
    8. Lin, Ming-Jen & Liu, Elaine M., 2014. "Does in utero exposure to Illness matter? The 1918 influenza epidemic in Taiwan as a natural experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 152-163.
    9. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Zong‐Xian Xie & Shin‐Yi Chou & Jin‐Tan Liu, 2017. "The Short‐Run and Long‐Run Effects of Birth Weight: Evidence from Large Samples of Siblings and Twins in Taiwan," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(7), pages 910-921, July.
    11. Yuda, Michio, 2020. "Childhood health and future outcomes: Evidence from panel surveys for the Japanese population," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    12. Shin-Yi Chou & Echu Liu & Min-Jen Lin & Jin-Tan Liu, 2015. "Better peers, better scores? A study of twin junior high school graduates in Taiwan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(32), pages 3462-3481, July.
    13. Lee, Ines, 2024. "Co-benefits from health and health systems to education," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    14. Mao Nakayama & Midori Matsushima, 2023. "Age-related changes in the effect of birth weight on child development: findings from a Japanese Longitudinal Survey," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 177-197, January.
    15. Eide, Eric R. & Showalter, Mark H., 2011. "Estimating the relation between health and education: What do we know and what do we need to know?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 778-791, October.
    16. Lin, Ming-Jen & Liu, Elaine M., 2014. "Does in utero exposure to Illness matter? The 1918 influenza epidemic in Taiwan as a natural experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 152-163.
    17. Tifang Ye & Xiuli Xiang & Xiangyu Ge & Keling Yang, 2022. "Research on Green Finance and Green Development Based Eco-Efficiency and Spatial Econometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-29, February.

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