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Title: Womb to Wisdom: Early-Life Exposure to Midwifery Laws and Later-Life Disability
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2023
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Abstract: Previous research documented that midwifery service quality improvements lead to improving maternal and infants' health outcomes. However, little is known about its influence for later-life outcomes including disability. This paper explores the potential effects of early-life exposure to the establishment of midwifery laws across US states on later-life disability outcomes. Midwifery laws were enacted during the late 19 th and early 20 th century and required midwives to gain formal education and training to obtain a license in order to legally practice. We use decennial census data over the years 1970-2000 and implement a difference-indifference method and show that being born in a reform state is associated with significant reductions in various measures of disability, including work disability, cognitive difficulty, ambulatory difficulty, self-care difficulty, and a proxy for severe mental health. We also find significant increases in education, socioeconomic scores, housing wealth, and income. We further discuss the policy implications of the results.
Url: https://hoa-vu.github.io/research/Midwifery_Disability_11_10_2023.pdf
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Authors: Noghanibehambari, Hamid; Bagheri, Hesamaldin; Toranji, Mostafa; Vu, Hoa; Tavassoli, Nasrin
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Fertility and Mortality, Health, Reproductive and Sexual Health
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