| dc.description.abstract | We investigate the e ect of prenatal care use on infant health, the e ect
of preceding birth interval length on maternal health, and the e ect
of smoking on general health. We employ an estimation strategy that
controls for potential endogeneity of the key covariates, potential unobserved
heterogeneity, and potential sample selection bias. We obtain
three main results. First, models that do not control for unobserved
mother{speci c e ects overstate the bene cial e ects of prenatal care on
infant health. We particularly nd that after controlling for unobserved
mother{speci c e ects, adequate use of prenatal care decreases the probability
of delivering a low{birth weight infant by 0.036, holding other
factors constant. Without such control, however, the corresponding
reduction would have been 0.26. Second, preceding birth interval is
an endogenous determinant of maternal health. In particular, we nd
that preceding birth intervals of length 36 to 59 months can only be
shown to improve maternal health after we control for the endogeneity
of preceding birth interval. Third, failure to control for sample selection
bias, endogeneity of smoking and unobserved heterogeneity leads to an
understatement of the negative e ects of smoking on self{rated health
status by about 50%. In particular, we nd that after controlling for
sample selection bias, endogeneity of smoking and unobserved heterogeneity,
the probability of individuals who smoke rating their own health
as \Poor" compared to their age{mates is higher than that of those who
do not smoke by 0.018, holding other factors constant. Without such
controls, however, the corresponding di erence in probabilities is only
0.009. Our results imply that policies that promote adequate use of
prenatal care services, those that promote adequate spacing of births,
and those that discourage smoking should be pursued so as to improve
the health of the Kenyan people. | |
