Health and Economic Impacts of an Early Labor Induction Policy for High-BMI Mothers

A large economics literature studies the marginal returns of birth interventions. Still, it is almost non-existent on a fairly common intervention: medically initiating labor to prevent the health risks of a pregnancy lasting too long. Because labor induction can also have side effects, the optimal timing of birth remains debated and can depend on the specific population of mothers under study. In this paper, we assess the effects of an early labor induction policy for a fast growing share of pregnancies: high-BMI women. We provide the first piece of causal evidence on the topic by exploiting Danish guidelines which recommend routine induction at 7 days after the expected due date instead of 10-13 days after for mothers with a pre-pregnancy BMI of at least 35. Early labor induction improves immediate maternal and neonatal health, reduces universal nurse visits during the first year of life of the child, as well as maternal postpartum depression risks.