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  3. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
  4. July 2022
  5. Breastfeeding and Child Development

Breastfeeding and Child Development

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Abstract

We show that children who are born at or just before the weekend are less likely to be breastfed, owing to poorer breastfeeding support services in hospitals at weekends. We use this variation to estimate the effect of breastfeeding on children's development in the first seven years of life, for a sample of births of low-educated mothers. We find large effects of breastfeeding on children's cognitive development but no effects on health or noncognitive development during the period of childhood we consider. Regarding mechanisms, we study how breastfeeding affects parental investments and the quality of the mother-child relationship.

Citation

Fitzsimons, Emla, and Marcos Vera-Hernández. 2022. "Breastfeeding and Child Development." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 14 (3): 329-66. DOI: 10.1257/app.20180385

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • I12 Health Behavior
  • I14 Health and Inequality
  • I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
  • J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

Podcast

  • Posted by MARCOS VERA-HERNANDEZ
  • Posted on 10/25/2022 6:17:01 AM
This article has been featured in the Freakonomics, M.D. podcast.
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