Volume 31, Number 1 (Winter) 1996
Blau, David M., David K. Guilkey, and Barry M. Popkin. 1996. "Infant Health and the Labor Supply of Mothers." Journal of Human Resources 31(1):90-139.
We analyze the relationships among infant feeding, infant health, and the labor supply of mothers using detailed, longitudinal data from the Philippines. We find little evidence that maternal labor supply has a direct, causal effect on child health after accounting for the endogeneity of the mother’s labor supply. Consistent with the predictions of economic theory, mothers with higher wage offers are more likely to work, less likely to breastfeed, and more likely to use infant formula. Mothers with higher wages have healthier children, while mothers facing higher food prices have less healthy children.
David M. Blau is a professor of economics, a fellow of the Carolina Population Center, and a coeditor of the Journal of Human Resources; David K. Guilkey is a professor of economics and a fellow of the Carolina Population Center; Barry M. Popkin is a professor of nutrition and a fellow of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The authors thank the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant P01-HD28076) and the Russell Sage Foundation for financial support. Helpful comments and suggestions were made by two referees and seminar participants at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, New York University, Columbia University, Queens College, and the Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, 1993. Opinions and errors are the sole responsibility of the authors. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning in August 1996 through July 1999 from the authors at Department of Economics, Gardner Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3305.
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