Birth-spacing, fertility and neonatal mortality in India: Dynamics, frailty, and fecundity

Sonia Bhalotra and Arthur van Soest ()

Journal of Econometrics, 2008, vol. 143, issue 2, 274-290

Abstract: Using microdata on 30,000 childbirths in India and dynamic panel data models, we analyse causal effects of birth-spacing on subsequent neonatal mortality and of mortality on subsequent birth intervals, controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. Right censoring is accounted for by jointly estimating a fertility equation, identified by using data on sterilization. We find evidence of frailty, fecundity, and causal effects in both directions. Birth intervals explain only a limited share of the correlation between neonatal mortality of successive children in a family. We predict that for every neonatal death, 0.37 additional children are born, of whom 0.30 survive.

Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (97)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304-4076(07)00213-8
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Birth Spacing, Fertility and Neonatal Mortality in India:Dynamics, Frailty and Fecundity (2007)
Working Paper: Birth Spacing, Fertility and Neonatal Mortality in India: Dynamics, Frailty and Fecundity (2006)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:econom:v:143:y:2008:i:2:p:274-290

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Econometrics is currently edited by T. Amemiya, A. R. Gallant, J. F. Geweke, C. Hsiao and P. M. Robinson

More articles in Journal of Econometrics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().