The Labor Market Consequences of Heat Exposure During Pregnancy / Xuwen Gao, Ran Song, Christopher Timmins, Fang Xia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gao, Xuwen.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Song, Ran.

Timmins, Christopher.

Xia, Fang.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w31684.

NBER working paper series no. w31684

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2023.

Summary:

We provide the first estimates of the negative impact of exposure to extremely high temperatures during pregnancy on mothers' labor market outcomes. We employ individual-level survey data from China and leverage plausibly exogenous fluctuations in heat exposure within cities. The results demonstrate that exposure to extremely hot weather during pregnancy reduces women's wages and labor supply later in life and increases the likelihood that they will work in an unskilled sector. The effects are stronger for heat exposure during the third gestational trimester. The mechanism for these results is that extreme temperature exposure during pregnancy undermines maternal health. Our analysis proposes a new channel through which extreme weather generates health and economic costs.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2023.