PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ana Costa-Ramón
AU  - Mika Kortelainen
AU  - Ana Rodríguez-González
AU  - Lauri Sääksvuori
TI  - The Long-Run Effects of Cesarean Sections
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.58.2.0719-10334R1
DP  - 2020 Oct 12
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0719-10334R1
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/10/14/jhr.58.2.0719-10334R1.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/10/14/jhr.58.2.0719-10334R1.full
AB  - This paper analyzes the long-term effects of potentially avoidable cesarean sections on children’s health. Using Finnish administrative data, we document that physicians perform more unplanned C-sections during their regular working hours on days that precede a weekend or public holiday and use this exogenous variation as an instrument for C-sections. We supplement our instrumental variables results with a differences-in-differences estimation strategy that exploits variation in birth mode within sibling pairs and across families. Our results suggest that avoidable unplanned C-sections increase the risk of asthma, but do not affect other immune-mediated disorders previously associated with C-sections.