Birth Spacing and Neonatal Mortality in India Dynamics, Frailty, and Fecundity

Sonia Bhalotra and Arthur van Soest ()

No WR-219, Working Papers from RAND Corporation

Abstract: A dynamic panel data model of neonatal mortality and birth spacing is analyzed, accounting for causal effects of birth spacing on subsequent mortality and of mortality on the next birth interval, while controlling for unobserved heterogeneity in mortality (frailty) and birth spacing (fecundity). The model is estimated using micro data on about 29000 children of 6700 Indian mothers, for whom a complete retrospective record of fertility and child mortality is available. Information on sterilization is used to identify an equation for completion of family formation that is needed to account for right-censoring in the data. The authors find clear evidence of frailty, fecundity, and causal effects of birth spacing on mortality and vice versa, but find that birth interval effects can explain only a limited share of the correlation between neonatal mortality of successive children in a family.

Keywords: fertility; birth spacing; childhood mortality; health; dynamic panel data models; siblings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 I12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2005-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Birth spacing and neonatal mortality in India: Dynamics, frailty and fecundity (2008)
Working Paper: Birth Spacing and Neonatal Mortality in India: Dynamics, Frailty and Fecundity (2005)
Working Paper: Birth Spacing and Neonatal Mortality in India: Dynamics, Frailty and Fecundity (2005)
Working Paper: Birth Spacing and Neonatal Mortality in India: Dynamics, Frailty and Fecundity (2004)
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