Building health across generations: Childbirth, childcare and maternal health (joint with Mara Barschkett)
HEDG Working Paper 24/08, August 2024; DIW Working Paper 2059 & BiB Working Paper 6/2023, November 2023.
Submitted
Family dynamics and institutions play significant roles in shaping individuals’ health. We evaluate the short- and long-term effects of (1) motherhood and (2) public early childcare on maternal health in Germany. Our results align with an intra-household disease spread after childbirth, which is further amplified by childcare availability. While we find a persistent increase in obesity after childbirth, our findings reveal long-term reductions in hypertension, back pain, nutritional deficiencies, and mental health disorders. These results are supported by childcare availability reducing non-communicable diseases, through better labour market outcomes and healthier behaviours, and improving mental health for multiparous and older mothers.
The effect of a universal preschool programme on long-term health outcomes: Evidence from Spain
Fedea Working Paper 2022/07, October 2022; HEDG Working Paper 22/06, March 2022.
Best paper presented by an early career researcher at the 41st Spanish Health Economics Association Conference. Awarded by Fedea.
Blog post: Blog AES (in Spanish)
Early childhood education programmes are expected to improve child conditions including educational attainment, labour, and health outcomes. This study evaluates the effect of a Spanish universal preschool programme, which implied a large-scale expansion of full-time high-quality public preschool for three-year-olds in 1991, on long-term health. Using a difference-in-differences approach, I exploit the timing of the policy and the differential initial speed of implementation of public preschool expansion across regions. I compare long-term health of cohorts aged three before to those aged three after the start of the policy residing in regions with varying initial implementation intensity of the programme. The results show that the policy does not affect long-term health outcomes and use of healthcare services, except for two outcomes. A greater initial intensity in public preschool expansion by 10 percentage points decreases the likelihood of being diagnosed with asthma by 2.1 percentage points, but hospitalisation rates increase by 2.7%. The findings indicate that the effect on asthma is larger for men, hospitalisation rates are higher for pregnant women, and disadvantaged children benefit the most in terms of a lower probability of taking medicines and being diagnosed with asthma and mental health disorders.