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Maternal Displacements during Pregnancy and the Health of Newborns

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Cellini

    (University of Surrey)

  • Livia Menezes

    (University of Birmingham)

  • Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner

    (University of Surrey)

Abstract
In this paper, we estimate the effect of maternal displacements during pregnancy on birth outcomes by leveraging population-level administrative data from Brazil on formal employment linked to birth records. We find that involuntary job separation of pregnant single mothers leads to a decrease in birth weight (BW) by around 28 grams (-1% ca.) and an increase in the incidence of low BW by 10.5%. In contrast, we find a significant positive effect on the mean BW and a decrease in the incidence of low BW for mothers in a marriage or stable union. We document more pronounced negative effects for single mothers with lower earnings and no effect for mothers in the highest income quartile, suggesting a mitigating role of self-insurance from savings. Exploiting variation from unemployment benefits eligibility, we also provide evidence on the mitigating role of formal unemployment insurance using a Regression Discontinuity design exploiting the cutoff from the unemployment insurance eligibility rule.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Cellini & Livia Menezes & Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner, 2022. "Maternal Displacements during Pregnancy and the Health of Newborns," Discussion Papers 22-02, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    • Handle: RePEc:bir:birmec:22-02
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    File URL: https://repec.cal.bham.ac.uk/pdf/22-02.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dismissals; birth outcomes; informal insurance; unemployment insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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