Life Expectancy and Mother-Baby Interventions
53 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2015 Last revised: 15 Apr 2015
Date Written: August 6, 2014
Abstract
This paper investigates the potential of an infant intervention to improve life expectancy, contributing to emerging interest in the early life origins of chronic disease. We analyse a pioneering program trialled in Sweden in the 1930s, which provided information, support and monitoring of infant care. Using birth certicate data from parish records matched to death registers, we estimate that the average duration of program exposure in infancy led to a 1.54% point decline in the risk of infant death (23% of baseline risk) and a 2.37% decline in the risk of dying by age 75 (6.5% of baseline risk).
Keywords: Maternal care; infant care; early life interventions; barker hypothesis; program evaluation; Sweden
JEL Classification: I15, I18, H41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation