IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v27y2018i8p1149-1159.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of health insurance on birth weight in Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Santosh Kumar
  • Fidel Gonzalez

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of mother's insurance coverage on neonatal outcomes in Mexico using hospital‐based administrative data. Using an instrumental variable approach to identify the causal effects of health insurance on infant health, we find that mother's insurance coverage has positive impacts on neonatal outcomes. Children born to insured mothers weighed 108 g higher and had reduced probability of low birth weight by 7.5 percentage points. These effects appear to be stronger for mothers with higher levels of education and in municipalities with a higher development index. Findings indicate that expanding insurance coverage could be helpful in improving neonatal outcomes in resource‐constrained countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Santosh Kumar & Fidel Gonzalez, 2018. "Effects of health insurance on birth weight in Mexico," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(8), pages 1149-1159, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:27:y:2018:i:8:p:1149-1159
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.3662
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3662
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.3662?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janet Currie & Jonathan Gruber, 1996. "Health Insurance Eligibility, Utilization of Medical Care, and Child Health," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 431-466.
    2. R. Todd Jewell & Patricia Triunfo, 2006. "The impact of prenatal care on birthweight: the case of Uruguay," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(11), pages 1245-1250, November.
    3. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2007. "From the Cradle to the Labor Market? The Effect of Birth Weight on Adult Outcomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 409-439.
    4. Pfutze, Tobias, 2014. "The Effects of Mexico’s Seguro Popular Health Insurance on Infant Mortality: An Estimation with Selection on the Outcome Variable," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 475-486.
    5. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    6. Janet Currie & Enrico Moretti, 2007. "Biology as Destiny? Short- and Long-Run Determinants of Intergenerational Transmission of Birth Weight," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(2), pages 231-264.
    7. Habibov, Nazim N. & Fan, Lida, 2011. "Does prenatal healthcare improve child birthweight outcomes in Azerbaijan? Results of the national Demographic and Health Survey," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 56-65, January.
    8. 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.
    9. John A. Tauras, 2005. "Can public policy deter smoking escalation among young adults?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 771-784.
    10. Fidel Gonzalez & Santosh Kumar, 2018. "Prenatal care and birthweight in Mexico," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1156-1170, February.
    11. Stephen Abrokwah & Christine Moser & Edward Norton, 2014. "The effect of social health insurance on prenatal care: the case of Ghana," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 385-406, December.
    12. Currie, Janet & Gruber, Jonathan, 1996. "Saving Babies: The Efficacy and Cost of Recent Changes in the Medicaid Eligibility of Pregnant Women," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(6), pages 1263-1296, December.
    13. Joseph Mensah & Joseph R. Oppong & Christoph M. Schmidt, 2010. "Ghana's national health insurance scheme in the context of the health MDGs: an empirical evaluation using propensity score matching," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(S1), pages 95-106, September.
    14. Jere R. Behrman & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2004. "Returns to Birthweight," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 586-601, May.
    15. Mark R. Rosenzweig & T. Paul Schultz, 1982. "The Behavior of Mothers as Inputs to Child Health: The Determinants of Birth Weight, Gestation, and Rate of Fetal Growth," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Health, pages 53-92, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Farrelly, Matthew C. & Pechacek, Terry F. & Chaloupka, Frank J., 2003. "The impact of tobacco control program expenditures on aggregate cigarette sales: 1981-2000," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 843-859, September.
    17. Sarah Barber & Paul Gertler, 2010. "Empowering women: how Mexico's conditional cash transfer programme raised prenatal care quality and birth weight," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 51-73.
    18. Gissele Gajate-Garrido, 2013. "The Impact of Adequate Prenatal Care on Urban Birth Outcomes: An Analysis in a Developing Country Context," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(1), pages 95-130.
    19. Kondo, Ayako & Shigeoka, Hitoshi, 2013. "Effects of universal health insurance on health care utilization, and supply-side responses: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-23.
    20. Hanratty, Maria J, 1996. "Canadian National Health Insurance and Infant Health," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 276-284, March.
    21. Fuchs, Victor R. (ed.), 1982. "Economic Aspects of Health," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226267852, August.
    22. repec:ucn:wpaper:10197/317 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Adriana Camacho & Emily Conover, 2013. "Effects of Subsidized Health Insurance on Newborn Health in a Developing Country," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(3), pages 633-658.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:eme:cfripp:cfri-04-2020-0032 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Santosh Kumar & Fidel Gonzalez, 2020. "The Quantile effects of prenatal care on birth weight in Mexico," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(2), pages 1498-1507.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Mmopelwa, 2019. "Prenatal care utilization and infant health in Botswana," Discussion Papers 2019-09, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    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. Ana I. Balsa & Patricia Triunfo, 2012. "The Effectiveness of Prenatal Care in a Low Income Population: A Panel Data Approach," Documentos de Trabajo/Working Papers 1204, Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales y Economia. Universidad de Montevideo..
    4. Ana Inés Balsa & Patricia Triunfo, 2012. "¿Son los cuidados prenatales efectivos? Un enfoque con datos individuales de panel," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0612, Department of Economics - dECON.
    5. Philip Oreopoulos & Mark Stabile & Randy Walld & Leslie L. Roos, 2008. "Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Consequences of Poor Infant Health: An Analysis Using Siblings and Twins," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(1).
    6. Manan Roy, 2011. "How Well Does the U.S. Government Provide Health Insurance?," Departmental Working Papers 1102, Southern Methodist University, Department of Economics.
    7. Lin, Lin & Zai, Xianhua, 2022. "The Power of Public Insurance With Limited Benefits: Evidence from China's New Cooperative Medical Scheme," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1180, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Noghanibehambari, Hamid, 2022. "Intergenerational health effects of Medicaid," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    9. repec:dem:wpaper:wp-2022-025 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Ellen Meara, 2001. "Why is Health Related to Socioeconomic Status?," NBER Working Papers 8231, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Manan Roy, 2014. "How well does the U.S. Government provide health insurance for infants?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 253-284, February.
    12. Gabriella Conti & Rita Ginja, 2023. "Who Benefits from Free Health Insurance?: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(1), pages 146-182.
    13. Cygan-Rehm, Kamila & Karbownik, Krzysztof, 2022. "The effects of incentivizing early prenatal care on infant health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    14. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2007. "From the Cradle to the Labor Market? The Effect of Birth Weight on Adult Outcomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 409-439.
    15. Hoyong Jung, 2023. "Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-22, February.
    16. Almond, Douglas & Currie, Janet & Herrmann, Mariesa, 2012. "From infant to mother: Early disease environment and future maternal health," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 475-483.
    17. Cesur, Resul & Güneş, Pınar Mine & Tekin, Erdal & Ulker, Aydogan, 2017. "The value of socialized medicine: The impact of universal primary healthcare provision on mortality rates in Turkey," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 75-93.
    18. Gábor Kertesi & Gábor Kézdi, 2016. "On the test score gap between Roma and non-Roma students in Hungary and its potential causes," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 24(1), pages 135-162, January.
    19. Huang, Wei & Liu, Hong, 2023. "Early childhood exposure to health insurance and adolescent outcomes: Evidence from rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    20. Petter Lundborg, 2013. "The health returns to schooling—what can we learn from twins?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 673-701, April.
    21. Fidel Gonzalez & Santosh Kumar, 2018. "Prenatal care and birthweight in Mexico," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1156-1170, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:27:y:2018:i:8:p:1149-1159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.