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Mothers’ care: reversing early childhood health shocks through parental investments

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Abstract

We explore the effects of a child labor regulation that changed the legal working age from 14 to 16 over the health of their offspring. We show that the reform was detrimental for the health of the son’s of affected parents at delivery. Yet, in the medium run, the effects of the reform are insignificant for both male and female children. The sons of treated mothers are perceived as still having worse health at older ages, even if their objective health status has recovered. These boys are also more likely to have private health insurance, which suggests more concerned mothers.

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  • Cristina Bellés-Obrero & Antonio Cabrales & Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Judit Vall Castello, 2019. "Mothers’ care: reversing early childhood health shocks through parental investments," Economics Working Papers 1629, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    • Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:1629
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    1. Justin Cook, C. & Fletcher, Jason M., 2015. "Understanding heterogeneity in the effects of birth weight on adult cognition and wages," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 107-116.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    minimum working age; education; child health; gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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