Previous research has established that birth order affects outcomes such as educational achievements, IQ and earnings. The mechanisms behind these effects are, however, still largely unknown. In this paper, we examine birth-order effects on health, and whether health at young age could be a...

We explore the effects of a child labor regulation that changed the legal working age from 14 to 16 over the health of their offspring. We show that the reform was detrimental for the health of the son’s of affected parents at delivery. Yet, in the medium run, the effects of the reform are...

The body mass index (BMI) is the primary means of classifying obesity and reflects a complex set of interactions related to the institution of marriage and household characteristics. There is an inverse relationship between BMI and height, and height reflects the cumulative price of net...

Health at birth is an important indicator of human capital development over the life course. This paper uses longitudinal data from the Young Lives survey and employs instrumental variable regression models to estimate the effect of birth weight on cognitive development during childhood in...

We present the first comprehensive evidence on the health impacts of the introduction and expansion of a large non-contributory health insurance program in Mexico, the Seguro Popular (SP). SP provided access to health services without co-pays to individuals with no Social Security protection. To...

We propose an innovative child-specific measure of son preference. It allows to explicitly address birth order and sex composition effects. We first establish that, when using this child-specific measure, son preference is more common among later born children and in families with fewer sons. We...

Previous research has shown that birth order affects outcomes such as educational achievements, IQ and earnings. The mechanisms behind these effects are, however, still largely unknown. In this paper, we examine birth-order effects on health, and whether health at young age could be a...

While workplace flexibility is perceived to be a key determinant of maternal labor supply, less is known about fathers' demand for flexibility or about intra-household spillover effects of flexibility initiatives. This paper examines these issues in the context of a critical period in family...

Research has shown that cognitive and non-cognitive skills, education and earnings decrease with birth order. Less is known about birth order effects on health. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between birth order, health at birth and in childhood, and parental...

Research has shown that cognitive and non-cognitive skills, education and earnings decrease with birth order. Less is known about birth order effects on health. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between birth order, health at birth and in childhood, and parental...