Citation

Morrill MS. J. Health Econ. 2011; 30(2): 240-257.

Affiliation

Department of Economics, North Carolina State University, Nelson Hall 4144, Box 8110, Raleigh, NC 27695-8110, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jhealeco.2011.01.001

PMID

21316779

Abstract

The effects of maternal employment on children's health are theoretically ambiguous and challenging to identify. There are trade-offs between income and time, and a mother's decision to work reflects, in part, her children's health and her underlying preferences. I utilize exogenous variation in each child's youngest sibling's eligibility for kindergarten as an instrument. Using the restricted-access National Health Interview Survey (1985-2004), I identify the effects on overnight hospitalizations, asthma episodes, and injuries/poisonings for children ages 7-17. Maternal employment increases the probability of each adverse health event by nearly 200 percent. These effects are robust and do not reflect a non-representative local effect.

Language: en