Abstract
We study the effect of maternal dengue infections on birth outcomes using linked administrative records from Brazil estimating maternal fixed-effect specifications. In contrast to previous studies, we find robust evidence for the negative effect of dengue infections on birth weight (BW). The effect is particularly pronounced at lower parts of the BW distribution, with an increase of 15 percent, 67 percent, and 133 percent for low, very low, and extremely low BW, respectively. We also document large increases in children's hospitalizations and medical expenditures for up to three years after birth.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 530-553 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | American Economic Journal: Applied Economics |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Acknowledgments:Seema Jayachandran was coeditor for this article. We would like to thank Marcus Eder, Claudio Ferraz, Adrienne Lucas, Matthias Parey, James Rockey, Rodrigo Soares, and seminar participants at Birmingham, Leicester, Surrey, the Essen Health Conference, the European Winter Meeting of the Econometric Society, the Royal Economic Society 2022 Conference, and the iHEA World Congress Dublin for their very useful comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies. We thank the Brazilian Ministry of Health and the State Secretariat of Health in Minas Gerais for very useful discussions and for help with the data. Foureaux Koppensteiner very gratefully acknowledges financial support received through the Economic and Social Research Council grant ES/N017706/1. The research of this manuscript was conducted under IRB approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Leicester (1666-mk332-economics).
