Título: Healthier Starts: The Intergenerational Effects of Maternal General Knowledge Acquisition
Sala: E22
Hora: 12:30
Resumen: We study the long-term causal impacts of increasing mothers’ general education on infant health outcomes using a education reform in Spain that integrated more general education into secondary schooling. Educational programs that aim to deliver more general knowledge may improve women's earning potential and maternal prenatal investment by increasing the portability of skills across occupations and improving women's ability to make informed decisions about marriage, fertility options and health behavior. Using quasi-experimental variation from a schooling reform in Spain that exogenously integrated more general education into the high school system, we find that the reform led to a significant reduction in the incidence of very premature birth (less than 32 gestational weeks), and declines in very low birth weight (less than 1,500 grams) and premature births (less than 37 weeks). Linked survey data on adult information processing skills, substance abuse, and labor and marriage market choices to administrative education records allow us to unpack the mechanisms behind the causal effects of more general education on health at birth. The positive effects of the reform on infant health are driven by better information processing skills, resulting in a better ability to avoid risky behaviors during pregnancy and improved family planning decision making.