Health Capital and the Prenatal Environment: The Effect of Maternal Fasting During Pregnancy / Douglas Almond, Bhashkar Mazumder.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Almond, Douglas.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Mazumder, Bhashkar.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w14428.

NBER working paper series no. w14428

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Health Capital and the Prenatal Environment

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2008.

Summary:

We use the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as a natural experiment in fasting and fetal health. In Michigan births 1989-2006, we find prenatal exposure to Ramadan among Arab mothers results in lower birthweight and reduced gestation length. Exposure to Ramadan in the first month of gestation is also associated with a sizable reduction in the number of male births. In Census data for Uganda, Iraq, and the US we find strong associations between in utero exposure to Ramadan and the likelihood of being disabled as an adult. Effects are particularly large for mental (or learning) disabilities. We also find significant effects on proxies for wealth, earnings, the sex composition of the adult population, and more suggestive evidence of effects on schooling. We find no evidence that negative selection in conceptions during Ramadan accounts for our findings, suggesting that avoiding Ramadan exposure during pregnancy is costly or the long-term effects of fasting unknown.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2008.