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Fetal Health Shocks And Early Inequalities In Health Capital Accumulation

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  • George L. Wehby
  • Kwame A. Nyarko
  • Jorge S. Lopez‐Camelo

Abstract

Several studies report socioeconomic inequalities in child health and consequences of early disease. However, not much is known about inequalities in health capital accumulation in the womb in response to fetal health shocks, which is essential for finding the earliest sensitive periods for interventions to reduce inequalities. We identify inequalities in birth weight accumulation as a result of fetal health shocks from the occurrence of one of the most common birth defects, oral clefts, within the first 9 weeks of pregnancy, using quantile regression and two datasets from South America and the USA. Infants born at lower birth weight quantiles are significantly more adversely affected by the health shock compared with those born at higher birth weight quantiles, with overall comparable results between the South American and US samples. These results suggest that fetal health shocks increase child health disparities by widening the spread of the birth weight distribution and that health inequalities begin in the womb, requiring interventions before pregnancy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • George L. Wehby & Kwame A. Nyarko & Jorge S. Lopez‐Camelo, 2014. "Fetal Health Shocks And Early Inequalities In Health Capital Accumulation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(1), pages 69-92, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:23:y:2014:i:1:p:69-92
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.2901
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wehby, George L. & Castilla, Eduardo E. & Lopez-Camelo, Jorge, 2010. "The impact of altitude on infant health in South America," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 197-211, July.
    2. George L. Wehby & Jeffrey C. Murray & Eduardo E. Castilla & Jorge S. Lopez‐Camelo & Robert L. Ohsfeldt, 2009. "Quantile effects of prenatal care utilization on birth weight in Argentina," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(11), pages 1307-1321, November.
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    8. Wehby, George L. & Courtemanche, Charles J., 2012. "The heterogeneity of the cigarette price effect on body mass index," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 719-729.
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    Cited by:

    1. Brenda Gannon & Danusha Jayawardana & Vicki Clifton, 2021. "Descriptive Data Analysis of Inequality of Economic Opportunity using the Queensland Family Cohort Pilot Study," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 54(3), pages 398-405, September.
    2. George L. Wehby & Lucas G. Gimenez & Jorge S. López-Camelo, 2017. "The impact of unemployment cycles on child and maternal health in Argentina," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 62(2), pages 197-207, March.
    3. George Wehby & Juan Gili & Mariela Pawluk & Eduardo Castilla & Jorge López-Camelo, 2015. "Disparities in birth weight and gestational age by ethnic ancestry in South American countries," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(3), pages 343-351, March.

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