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Davin M, Lavaine E. The role of health at birth and parental investment in early child development: evidence from the French ELFE cohort. Eur J Health Econ. 2021;22(8):1217-1237doi: 10.1007/s10198-021-01332-x.
Davin, M., & Lavaine, E. (2021). The role of health at birth and parental investment in early child development: evidence from the French ELFE cohort. The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care, 22(8), 1217-1237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-021-01332-x
Davin, Marion, and Lavaine, Emmanuelle. "The role of health at birth and parental investment in early child development: evidence from the French ELFE cohort." The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care vol. 22,8 (2021): 1217-1237. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-021-01332-x
Davin M, Lavaine E. The role of health at birth and parental investment in early child development: evidence from the French ELFE cohort. Eur J Health Econ. 2021 Nov;22(8):1217-1237. doi: 10.1007/s10198-021-01332-x. Epub 2021 Jul 09. PMID: 34241718.
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Eur J Health Econ. 2021 Nov;22(8):1217-1237. doi: 10.1007/s10198-021-01332-x. Epub 2021 Jul 09.

The role of health at birth and parental investment in early child development: evidence from the French ELFE cohort.

The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care

Marion Davin, Emmanuelle Lavaine

Affiliations

  1. CEE-M, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, INRAE, SupAgro, Montpellier, France.
  2. CEE-M, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, INRAE, SupAgro, Montpellier, France. [email protected].

PMID: 34241718 DOI: 10.1007/s10198-021-01332-x

Abstract

This paper combines a theoretical and an empirical approach to address how health at birth affects child development. Using a simple theoretical model in which parents invest in their children, we identify the mechanisms through which better health at birth can improve child development. We also emphasise how parental socioeconomic status can shape the effects of health at birth. We perform an empirical analysis on a French cohort of children born in 2011, using a unique dataset ELFE. We identify the effect of birth weight and gestational age on child development at 1 year. The results indicate that only gestational age positively affects early development. We find no empirical evidence for the existence of a severity effect, according to which the adverse effects of poor health at birth are higher for children in low-income families or with poorly educated mothers.

© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Keywords: Early child development; Health at birth; Parental investment

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