Bayesian Analysis of an Econometric Model of Birth Inputs and Outputs

Posted: 13 Nov 2002

See all articles by Kai Li

Kai Li

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business; Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER); China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN)

Dale J. Poirier

University of California, Irvine

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Abstract

This study offers a simultaneous equations model of the birth process with seven endogenous variables: Four birth inputs (maternal smoking, maternal drinking, first trimester prenatal care, and maternal weight gain) and three birth outputs (gestational age, birth length, and birth weight). The data are taken from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Our analysis conditions on twenty-nine exogenous variables including four racial dummies to account for the widely cited racial differences in birth outputs. We find that there is sizeable correlation between the disturbances in the four input and three output equations and among output disturbances, and that results from our simultaneous equations model are substantially different from those using the single-equation approach. It appears that the High/Low Risk Birth Weight Puzzle remains unresolved under our modeling framework.

Keywords: Birth weight, NLSY, simultaneity

JEL Classification: I12, J13, C11

Suggested Citation

Li, Kai and Poirier, Dale J., Bayesian Analysis of an Econometric Model of Birth Inputs and Outputs. Journal of Population Economics, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=350640

Kai Li (Contact Author)

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Dale J. Poirier

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