Does Unconditional Cash during Pregnancy Affect Infant Health?

55 Pages Posted: 14 Apr 2023

Date Written: March 29, 2023

Abstract

This paper examines how cash transfers that are not conditional on employment affect infant health. Leveraging variation in the amount of pandemic-era stimulus and child tax credit payments that families received based on household composition, I find that an additional $100 in transfers reduces the prevalence of low birthweight by 2-3 percent. Effects are larger for payments received later in pregnancy, but are of a similar magnitude across the population. These additional resources increased prenatal care and improved maternal health in ways that are consistent with families both increasing investments in children's health and improving the prenatal environment.

Note:
Funding Information: Financial support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Conflict of Interests: I have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Keywords: infant health, cash transfers

JEL Classification: I38, H24, I12

Suggested Citation

Ruffini, Krista, Does Unconditional Cash during Pregnancy Affect Infant Health? (March 29, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4404319 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4404319

Krista Ruffini (Contact Author)

Georgetown University ( email )

Washington, DC 20057
United States

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