Mechanisms
| National Vital Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Panel A: Average Birth Weight | |
| TI Elig. third trimester | 6.52*** (2.96) |
| Mean Y | 3,295 |
| N | 4,896 |
| Panel B: Low Birth Weight | |
| TI Elig. third trimester | −0.001*** (0.001) |
| Mean Y | 0.07 |
| N | 4,896 |
| CPS Food Security Supplement | |
|---|---|
| Panel C: Food Stamp Participation | |
| TI Elig. | 0.0927* (0.0509) |
| Mean Y | 0.15 |
| N | 685 |
| Panel D: Log of Weekly Food Consumption | |
| TI Elig. | 0.0906 (0.0854) |
| Mean Y | 5.06 |
| N | 685 |
↵Notes: Data in Panels A–B are from the 2000–2007 Vital Statistics Natality Data. The sample includes all infants born in the United States to foreign-born mothers and is collapsed to the infants’ state of birth and year and month of birth cell. Results are weighted by number of births in each cell. Data in Panels C–D are from the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement 2001–2007. Weekly Food Consumption includes purchases made with Food Stamps. Sample is treated immigrant mothers with a high school education or less, aged 18–55 who have U.S.-born children younger than age 17. Treated immigrants defined as those born outside of the United States and who report arriving in the United States 1985–1996. The results are weighted using the CPS-provided household weights. Regressions include controls for state of birth (or survey in the CPS) and year by month of birth (or year of survey in the CPS) fixed effects, as well as controls for the state unemployment rate and Medicaid/SCHIP generosity. Demographic controls in the Vital Statistics are child’s gender, race/ethnicity, parity of birth, and mother’s age at childbirth. Demographic controls in the CPS are mother’s age, race/ethnicity, education, years lived in the United States, and fixed effects for the number of children and number of adults living in the household. Standard errors are clustered by state and shown in parentheses. *p < 0.10, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.