Does Participation in Transfer Programs During Pregnancy Improve Birth Weight? / Janet Currie, Nancy Cole.

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Currie, Janet

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Material type: Text

TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w3832.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1991.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

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Abstract: A primary goal of transfer programs to the non-aged, non-disabled poor in the United States is to improve the well-being of children in poor families. Thus it is surprising that most of the considerable research which has been devoted to the study of transfer programs focuses on the incentive effects of the programs for parents rather than on the question of whether parental participation in such programs measurably benefits children. This paper begins to fill this gap in the literature by examining the relationship between a mother's participation during pregnancy in Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the Food Stamp Program, or housing assistance, and one of the least controversial measures of child welfare: the birth weight. We do not find any statistically significant relationship between a mother's participation in these programs during pregnancy and the birth weight of her child. However, it should be kept in mind that birth weight is only one measure of child welfare and that these entitlement programs may well have positive impacts on the health and development of children once they are born.

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Working Paper	Biblioteca Digital	Colección NBER	nber w3832 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

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Previous	nber w3829 What Ended the Great Depression? /	nber w3830 Macroeconomic Policy and Elections in OECD Democracies /	nber w3831 Alcohol Control Policies and Motor Vehicle Fatalities /	nber w3832 Does Participation in Transfer Programs During Pregnancy Improve Birth Weight? /	nber w3833 The Informativeness of Prices: Search With Learning and Cost Uncertainty /	nber w3834 Risk-Sharing, Altruism, and the Factor Structure of Consumption /	nber w3835 Do Tax-Exempt Bonds Really Subsidize Municipal Capital? /	Next

September 1991.

A primary goal of transfer programs to the non-aged, non-disabled poor in the United States is to improve the well-being of children in poor families. Thus it is surprising that most of the considerable research which has been devoted to the study of transfer programs focuses on the incentive effects of the programs for parents rather than on the question of whether parental participation in such programs measurably benefits children. This paper begins to fill this gap in the literature by examining the relationship between a mother's participation during pregnancy in Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the Food Stamp Program, or housing assistance, and one of the least controversial measures of child welfare: the birth weight. We do not find any statistically significant relationship between a mother's participation in these programs during pregnancy and the birth weight of her child. However, it should be kept in mind that birth weight is only one measure of child welfare and that these entitlement programs may well have positive impacts on the health and development of children once they are born.