Parra-Mujica, F., Roope, L.S.J., Violato, M. et al. Public preferences for saving lives versus life-years: evidence from a person-trade-off experiment in 12 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eur J Health Econ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-026-01915-6
Parra-Mujica, F., & Candio, P. (2024). Taking a health economic perspective in monitoring health inequalities: A focus on excess weight. Health Policy, 148, 105144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105144
Parra-Mujica, F., Roope, L. S. J., Abdul-Aziz, A., Mustapha, F., Ng, C. W., Rampal, S., Lim, L.-L., Dakin, H., & Clarke, P. (2024). Health poverty among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Malaysia. Social Science & Medicine, 340, 116426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116426
Candio, P., Parra-Mujica, F., & Frew, E. (2023). Socio-economic accounting of inequalities in excess weight: A population-based analysis. BMC Public Health, 23(1), 721. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889023-15592-0
Chen, T., Reed, H., Parra-Mujica, F., Johnson, E. A., Johnson, M., O’Flaherty, M., Collins, B., & Kypridemos, C. (2023). Quantifying the mental health and economic impacts of prospective Universal Basic Income schemes among young people in the UK: A microsimulation modelling study. BMJ Open, 13(10), e075831.https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075831
Cookson, R., Doran, T., Asaria, M., Gupta, I., & Parra-Mujica, F. (2021). The inverse care law re-examined: A global perspective. The Lancet, 397(10276), 828–838. https://doi.org/10.1016/S01406736(21)00243-9
Rising Temperatures and Domestic Violence in Peru: Evidence and Mechanisms (Parra-Mujica, F., van Wijhe, M.)
We study the causal relationship between ambient temperature and domestic violence in Peru, a middle-income country characterized by a high prevalence of domestic violence and significant climate variability. We leverage administrative data on domestic violence incidents, including police reports, emergency centers, hospitalizations, and helpline calls, combined with high-resolution satellite reanalysis weather data. Our empirical strategy applies a flexible temperature bin approach to capture non-linear effects of temperature on domestic violence. We identify both contemporaneous and short-term effects of temperature shocks on domestic violence. Our results reveal a positive cumulative impact over a 10-day period. Unlike other forms of crime, this increase is not explained by shifts in reporting behavior or short-term displacement of incidents. This contrasts with prior findings for other violent crimes, highlighting the need to study domestic violence separately given its distinct mechanisms rooted in intra-household dynamics. Our findings indicate that increased alcohol consumption and gendered shifts in labour outcomes constitute key mechanisms linking temperature to domestic violence, whereas we find no significant evidence for the hypothesized pathways of sleep disruption or depression.
Health Poverty and Diabetes Risk: A Cross-Country Study in LMICs. (Parra-Mujica, F., Brindley, C., Candio, P., Bonfrer, I. )
We analyze nationally representative WHO STEPS surveys from 13,247 individuals in 54 LMICs, employing health poverty indices—distribution-sensitive measures that capture not only the prevalence but also the intensity and severity of health risk. We document three key findings. First, risk increases substantially from low-income countries (18.5%) to lower-middle-income countries (31.2%), but then plateaus between lower- and upper-middle-income settings (31.5%). Women consistently face higher risk, with up to 42.5% in lower-middle-income and 39.9% in upper-middle-income countries exceeding national thresholds. Second, social and spatial gradients vary systematically with development: in upper-middle-income countries, the least educated experience the highest prevalence, intensity, and severity, whereas in low-income countries the gradient reverses, with more educated groups at greater risk. Similarly, spatial patterns reveal urban hotspots in poorer settings and a rural “catch-up” in wealthier ones. Third, policy scenario analyses highlight efficiency–equity trade-offs. Targeting the highest-risk 10% of the population yields large reductions in intensity (13–23%) and severity (25–31%) with limited impact on prevalence, while targeting all women achieves larger headcount reductions (16–22%) and narrows gender gaps but requires higher program costs.
Disruption and ... Adaptation? Impacts of the 2017 Coastal El Niño floods on maternal health care and birth outcomes in Peru
Flooding is an increasingly frequent climate-related hazard, yet evidence on its effects on maternal and neonatal health systems in low- and middle-income countries remains limited. Pregnancy represents a uniquely vulnerable period during which disruptions to care may have lasting consequences. We studied the impact of the 2017 Coastal El Niño—an extreme and largely unanticipated flooding event—on birth outcomes and maternal healthcare provision in Peru. We linked nationwide administrative data from the Electronic Birth Registry with hospital admission records and compared changes in outcomes in flood-exposed districts with contemporaneous changes in unexposed districts from 2015 to 2019. Flood exposure was associated with increases in preterm birth and hospitalisations for pregnancy-loss-related complications, indicating elevated maternal and neonatal risk during the shock period. This was followed by a reallocation of delivery care away from primary-level health facilities toward higher-level hospitals, accompanied by an increase in obstetrician-attended deliveries and a decline in midwife-attended births. These shifts were concentrated among uninsured women and in districts with high pre-flood reliance on primary care. The 2017 Coastal El Niño placed substantial strain on Peru’s maternal health system. While emergency adaptations prevented a collapse of institutional delivery coverage, disruptions to frontline care and referral pathways were associated with adverse birth outcomes, particularly among socioeconomically vulnerable populations. Strengthening the resilience of primary obstetric care and referral systems may be critical to protecting maternal and neonatal health as climate-related disasters become more frequent.
Parra-Mujica, F., Robson, M., Cookson, R. (2021). Socioeconomic Health Inequalities: Differences Between and Within Individuals. HEDG Working Paper University of York (UK) 21/15. Link to paper
[In Spanish] Parra-Mujica, F., Manrique, H., Martinez, V. (2019). Oil Spills and Maternal Health in Indigenous Amazon Communities. Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social. Link to paper
Parra-Mujica, F., Van Ourti, T., Bonfrer, I. Breathe with Caution: The Impact of In-Utero Exposure to Air Pollution on Birth Outcomes.