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FROMTHECRADLETOTHELABORMARKET?THE
EFFECTOFBIRTHWEIGHTONADULTOUTCOMES*
SANDRAE.B
LACKPAULJ.D
EVEREUXKJELLG.S
ALVANESLowerbirthweightbabieshaveworseoutcomes,bothshort-runintermsof
one-yearmortalityratesandlongerrunintermsofeducationalattainmentand
earnings.However,recentresearchhascalledintoquestionwhetherbirthweight
itselfisimportantorwhetheritsimplyreßectsotherhard-to-measurecharacter-
istics.Byapplyingwithintwintechniquesusinganunusuallyrichdatasetfrom
Norway,weexaminetheeffectsofbirthweightonbothshort-runandlong-run
outcomesforthesamecohorts.WeÞndthatbirthweightdoesmatter;despite
short-runtwinÞxedeffectsestimatesthataremuchsmallerthanOLSestimates,
theeffectsonlonger-runoutcomessuchasadultheight,IQ,earnings,andedu-
cationaresigniÞcantandsimilarinmagnitudetoOLSestimates.
I.I
NTRODUCTIONLowerbirthweightbabieshaveworseoutcomes,bothshort-
runintermsofone-yearmortalityratesandlongerruninterms
ofeducationalattainmentandearnings.Butisthisrelationship
causal?Recentresearchhasprovidedconßictingevidence,leav-
inguswonderingwhetherbirthweightitselfisimportantor
whetheritsimplyreßectsotherhard-to-measurecharacteristics.
Understandingboththeshort-runandlong-runeffectsof
birthweightisimportantfromanumberofperspectives.Onthe
policyside,governmentshaveimplementedanumberofpolicies
toimprovethehealthofbabiesand,hence,theirlateroutcomes.
Consider,forexample,theWomen,Infants,andChildrenPro-
gram(WIC)intheUnitedStates,afederallyfundedprogramthat
providesnutritioncounselingandsupplementalfoodforpregnant
*BlackandDevereuxgratefullyacknowledgeÞnancialsupportfromthe
NationalScienceFoundationandtheCaliforniaCenterforPopulationResearch.
SalvanesthankstheNorwegianResearchcouncilforÞnancialsupport.Weare
gratefultotheMedicalBirthRegistryofNorwayforprovidingthebirthrecords
data.WethankMarianneBitler,AmitabhChandra,AnneDaltveit,SusanDy-
narski,KanikaKapur,LindaLoury,PerMagnus,andOleMartinSundetforvery
usefuldiscussionsandseminarparticipantsattheFederalReserveBankofNew
York,BostonCollege,BrownUniversity,PrincetonUniversity,UCDDublin,
TuftsUniversity,CEPRUpsala,StockholmUniversity,Socialforskningsinstitut-
tetCopenhagen,Warwick,Essex,MaynoothCollege,TrinityCollegeDublin,
QueensUniversityBelfast,UniversityCollegeLondon,LondonSchoolofEconom-
ics,UniversityofAmsterdam,UniversityofBergen,andCOSTParisforhelpful
comments.ThisresearchwasconductedwhileBlackwasonleaveattheIndus-
trialRelationsSectionatPrincetonUniversity.
©2007bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollegeandtheMassachusettsInstituteof
Technology.
TheQuarterlyJournalofEconomics,
February2007
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