Cutting fertility? The effect of Cesarean deliveries on subsequent fertility and maternal labor supply
The incidence of Cesarean deliveries (CDs) has been on the rise. The procedure's cost and benefits are discussed controversially; in particular, since non-medically indicated cases seem widespread. We study the effect of CDs on subsequent fertility and maternal labor supply. Identification is achieved by exploiting variation in the supply-side's incentives to induce non-medically indicated CDs across weekdays. On weekends and public holidays obstetricians' are less likely to induce CDs (due tighter capacity constraints in hospital). On Fridays and other days preceding a holiday, they face an increased incentive to induce CDs (due to their demand for leisure on non-working days). We use high-quality administrative data from Austria. Women giving birth on different weekdays are pre-treatment observationally identical. Our instrumental variable estimates show that a non-planned CD at parity one decreases life cycle fertility by almost 17 percent. This reduction in fertility translates into a temporary increase in maternal employment.
Year of publication: |
2016
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Authors: | Halla, Martin ; Mayr, Harald ; Pruckner, Gerald J. ; Garcia-Gomez, Pilar |
Publisher: |
Linz : Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Department of Economics |
Subject: | Caesarean delivery | Caesarean section | fertility | female labor supply |
Saved in:
freely available
Series: | Working Paper ; 1603 |
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Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Type of publication (narrower categories): | Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Other identifiers: | 860841278 [GVK] hdl:10419/155475 [Handle] RePEc:jku:econwp:2016_03 [RePEc] |
Classification: | I12 - Health Production: Nutrition, Mortality, Morbidity, Substance Abuse and Addiction, Disability, and Economic Behavior ; J13 - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; J11 - Demographic Trends and Forecasts ; J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure |
Source: |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011615043