Data and Code for: Place Effects and Geographic Inequality in Health at Birth

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Eric Chyn, University of Texas-Austin; Na'ama Shenhav, University of California-Berkeley

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
code			12/02/2024 01:41:PM
input_data			12/02/2024 01:38:PM
output			12/02/2024 01:42:PM
saved_data			12/02/2024 01:37:PM
README.pdf	application/pdf	236.5 KB	03/26/2025 03:19:PM

Project Citation:

Chyn, Eric, and Shenhav, Na’ama. Data and Code for: Place Effects and Geographic Inequality in Health at Birth. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2025. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-10-03. https://doi.org/10.3886/E212343V1

Project Description

Summary: This paper uses birth records and mothers who move to quantify the absolute and relative importance of birth location for early-life health. Using a model that includes mother and location fixed effects, we find that moving from a below- to an above-median birth-weight location leads to important improvements in child birth weight, with comparable magnitudes to policies targeting maternal health. Place effects are larger for longer-distance moves and more influential for children of non-college-educated mothers. We find that pollution is the strongest predictor of early-health place effects.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: health; birth weight; children; neighborhood effects; pollution

JEL Classification:
      H51 National Government Expenditures and Health
      I10 Health: General
      I14 Health and Inequality
      J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
      Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
      R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics

Geographic Coverage: California

Time Period(s): 1989 – 2017

Universe: Infants born in California

Data Type(s): administrative records data; survey data

Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V1 [2025-10-03]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as it arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.