We investigate restructuring of the health system in Brazil motivated to operationalize universal health coverage. Using administrative data from multiple sources and an event study approach that exploits the staggered rollout of programmatic changes across municipalities, we find large...

A large body of research documents the importance of early life conditions for the health and human capital formation of children. The detrimental effects of alcohol exposure in utero are well documented, and therefore identifying effective methods for preventing harmful maternal alcohol...

We study the impact of a Canadian prenatal nutrition program on child health at birth. The objective of the "oeuf-lait-orange" (eggs-milk-oranges) (OLO) program is to reduce the incidence of prematurity and low birth weight by providing a specific food basket and nutritional guidance to pregnant...

We investigate universalization of access to health in Brazil. We find large reductions in maternal, foetal, neonatal and post-neonatal mortality, a reduction in fertility and, possibly on account of selection, no change in the quality of births. Using rich administrative data, we investigate...

Obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions around the globe and especially Canada. Obesity carries the risk of obtaining many other chronic diseases, such as cancer and type 2 diabetes. As a result, obesity carries a great economic burden in Canada as well as its provinces such as Alberta....

A major policy concern across public vaccination programs is non-compliance. Exploiting Danish population data and three national reforms in regression discontinuity designs, we document the effects of reminders for childhood vaccination coverage. Retrospective reminders are primarily effective...

What are the impacts of medical segregation? In 1990, South Africa repealed legislation enacted during Apartheid to segregate medical care. This made it legal for Black Africans to use medi- cal clinics, hospitals and wards that were of higher quality and previously exclusively reserved for...

The treatment of drinking water is advocated to reduce the incidence of child diarrhea. However, evaluating the impact of water treatment with only observational data leads to biased estimates since it could be the occurrence of child diarrhea that induced the household to treat their drinking...

We examine the impact of air pollution on infant death in California over the 1990s. Our work offers several innovations: First, many previous studies examine populations subject to far greater levels of pollution. In contrast, the experience of California in the 1990s is clearly relevant to...

Child care subsidies play a critical role in facilitating the transition of disadvantaged mothers from welfare to work. However, little is known about the influence of these policies on children's health and well-being. In this paper, we study the impact of subsidy receipt on low-income...