Getting a Sporting Chance: Title IX and the Intergenerational Transmission of Health

We know that healthier mothers tend to have healthier infants, but we do not know how much of that relationship reflects the intergenerational transmission of genetic attributes versus environmental influences. From a policy perspective, it is crucial to understand which environmental influences are important, and whether investments in one generation affect outcomes for the next. I use variation in the implementation of Title IX to measure the effects of increased athletic opportunities on the health of infants. Babies born to women with greater thletic opportunities as teenagers have babies that are healthier at birth. They are less likely to be born of low or very low birthweight, and have higher Apgar scores.