IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/soecon/v75y2008i1p128-158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Every Breath You Take: The Effect of Postpartum Maternal Smoking on Childhood Asthma

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph J. Sabia

Abstract

Recent studies in the public health literature and a June 2006 Surgeon General's report have cited a link between exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and childhood asthma. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this paper explores the sensitivity of this relationship to unobserved heterogeneity. Cross‐section estimates show consistent evidence of a positive relationship between postpartum maternal smoking and childhood asthma, particularly among populations at high risk for asthma: racial minorities and children of mothers with low educational attainment. Importantly, this relationship persists after controlling for fixed individual‐level unobservables. Difference‐in‐difference estimates show that the onset of maternal smoking is associated with a 4 to 7 percentage‐point increase in childhood asthma rates. The results of several falsification tests—which examine the effect of maternal smoking on other health outcomes not expected to be causally affected by exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke—lend credibility to the fixed effects identification strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph J. Sabia, 2008. "Every Breath You Take: The Effect of Postpartum Maternal Smoking on Childhood Asthma," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(1), pages 128-158, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:75:y:2008:i:1:p:128-158
    DOI: 10.1002/j.2325-8012.2008.tb00895.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2008.tb00895.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2008.tb00895.x?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. Neidell, Matthew J., 2004. "Air pollution, health, and socio-economic status: the effect of outdoor air quality on childhood asthma," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1209-1236, November.
    2. W. Kip Viscusi, 1995. "Cigarette Taxation and the Social Consequences of Smoking," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 9, pages 51-102, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Colman, Greg & Grossman, Michael & Joyce, Ted, 2003. "The effect of cigarette excise taxes on smoking before, during and after pregnancy," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 1053-1072, November.
    4. Ringel, J.S. & Evans, W.N., 2001. "Cigarrette taxes and smoking during pregnancy," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(11), pages 1851-1856.
    5. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    6. Evans, William N. & Ringel, Jeanne S., 1999. "Can higher cigarette taxes improve birth outcomes?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 135-154, April.
    7. Green, K.L. & Johnson, J.V., 1990. "The effects of psychosocial work organization on patterns of cigarette smoking among male chemical plant employees," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 80(11), pages 1368-1371.
    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. Lucie Schmidt & Lara Shore‐Sheppard & Tara Watson, 2023. "The Effect of Safety Net Generosity on Maternal Mental Health and Risky Health Behaviors," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(3), pages 706-736, June.

    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. Settele, Sonja & Ewijk, Reyn van, 2018. "Can cigarette taxes during pregnancy mitigate the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 130-148.
    2. Rahi Abouk & Scott Adams & Bo Feng & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Michael F. Pesko, 2023. "The effect of e‐cigarette taxes on pre‐pregnancy and prenatal smoking," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 908-940, September.
    3. Leah K. Lakdawala & David Simon, 2017. "The Intergenerational Consequences of Tobacco Policy: A Review of Policy's Influence on Maternal Smoking and Child Health," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(1), pages 229-274, July.
    4. Sonja Settele & Reyn van Ewijk, 2017. "The effect of cigarette taxes during pregnancy on educational outcomes of the next generation," IAAEU Discussion Papers 201703, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).
    5. Ciccarelli, Carlo & Giamboni, Luigi & Waldmann, Robert, 2007. "Cigarette smoking, pregnancy, forward looking behavior and dynamic inconsistency," MPRA Paper 8878, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Mocan, Naci & Raschke, Christian & Unel, Bulent, 2015. "The impact of mothers’ earnings on health inputs and infant health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 204-223.
    7. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Instrumental Variables and the Search for Identification: From Supply and Demand to Natural Experiments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 69-85, Fall.
    8. Görlitz, Katja & Tamm, Marcus, 2020. "Parenthood and smoking," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    9. John A. Tauras & Richard M. Peck & Kai-Wen Cheng & Frank J. Chaloupka, 2017. "Graphic Warning Labels and the Cost Savings from Reduced Smoking among Pregnant Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-10, February.
    10. Colman, Greg & Grossman, Michael & Joyce, Ted, 2003. "The effect of cigarette excise taxes on smoking before, during and after pregnancy," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 1053-1072, November.
    11. Michael J. Moore & James W. Hughes, 2001. "The Health Care Consequences of Smoking and Its Regulation," NBER Chapters, in: Frontiers in Health Policy Research, Volume 4, pages 31-76, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Fertig, Angela R. & Watson, Tara, 2009. "Minimum drinking age laws and infant health outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 737-747, May.
    13. Jason Abrevaya, 2006. "Estimating the effect of smoking on birth outcomes using a matched panel data approach," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 489-519, May.
    14. Rafaela M Nogueira De Carvalho, 2018. "Does The Unilateral Divorce Laws Cause Child Weight Gain?," Anais do XLIV Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 44th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 122, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    15. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Sansone, Dario, 2021. "Cigarette taxes and smoking among sexual minority adults," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Giaccherini, Matilde & Kopinska, Joanna & Palma, Alessandro, 2021. "When particulate matter strikes cities: Social disparities and health costs of air pollution," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Michael T. French & Ioana Popovici, 2011. "That instrument is lousy! In search of agreement when using instrumental variables estimation in substance use research," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 127-146, February.
    18. David Simon, 2014. "Cigarette Taxation and Pregnancy: Policy Based Estimates of the Price Elasticity of Smoking During Pregnancy," Working papers 2014-22, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    19. Matthew C. Farrelly & William N. Evans & Edward Montgomery, 1999. "Do Workplace Smoking Bans Reduce Smoking?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 728-747, September.
    20. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsutsui, 2019. "Effects of Pregnancy and Birth on Smoking and Drinking Behaviours: A Comparative Study Between Men and Women," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 70(2), pages 210-234, June.

    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:soecon:v:75:y:2008:i:1:p:128-158. 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: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2325-8012 .

    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.