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Inequality in the household: neonatal health effects on education outcomes and parents’ compensations among siblings

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  • Cabrera-Hernandez, Francisco
  • Orraca-Romano, Pedro

Abstract

This study estimates neonatal health associations with future health and education outcomes and explores parents' reactions to low health endowments using a 9-year panel of Mexican siblings. We contribute to the literature by providing results on different aspects of the uterine environment in poorer settings and offering a more dynamic picture of how initial health influences education and parents' compensations among siblings, from childhood to adulthood. Our results are robust to different family fixed-effects models suggesting that unhealthy children at birth have worse adult health, a lower height, and fewer years of schooling at any age between 5 and 22. We offer evidence of reinforcing and compensating patterns among siblings: less-educated parents spend on average 15\% fewer economic resources on their less-healthy children's education, while wealthier parents invest 14\% more. Notably, the compensating pattern in richer settings starts early in life and remains consistent across all ages.

Suggested Citation

  • Cabrera-Hernandez, Francisco & Orraca-Romano, Pedro, 2021. "Inequality in the household: neonatal health effects on education outcomes and parents’ compensations among siblings," MPRA Paper 111076, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:111076
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Birth Weight; Early Health; Early Childhood; Parent's Compensations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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