Test score impacts of Cesarean sections
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Economics, 2019
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2019
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121788 |
| _version_ | 1826202288447815680 |
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| author | Fahey, Alexandra(Alexandra Marie) |
| author2 | Heidi Williams. |
| author_facet | Heidi Williams. Fahey, Alexandra(Alexandra Marie) |
| author_sort | Fahey, Alexandra(Alexandra Marie) |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Economics, 2019 |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:05:28Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/121788 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:05:28Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1217882019-11-22T04:14:59Z Test score impacts of Cesarean sections Fahey, Alexandra(Alexandra Marie) Heidi Williams. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Economics. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Economics, 2019 Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 43-49). Despite extensive discussion in the medical community on the benefits and risks of C-sections and at what rate they should occur, a potentially crucial question remains unanswered - what are the long-term developmental impacts of birth method on children of low-risk births? In particular, how do C-sections influence measures such as childhood test scores? I address this question amid empirical complications - confounding factors that influence birth method may also impact postnatal outcomes - using a variety of methods. First, using basic linear regressions with a validated set of controls and a sample of mother-child pairs from the NLSY79, I find a 1% decline in average PIAT scores for children when born via C-section. Effects are strongest for math and reading comprehension. Increasing the flexibility of the model through propensity score matching, I find that if a child is unnecessarily born through C-section, their score will be 1.3 points lower than their vaginal birth counterpart. Then, in an attempt to mitigate omitted variable bias, I use the approach of Oster (2017) and incorporate movements in the estimated treatment effects and in the R² to define an identified set that is robust to selection on unobservables. With this, I estimate effects of between -0.2 and -1.3 points of C-sections on average PIAT scores. However, the identified sets at the subject-level contain zero, and thus I cannot reject the null hypothesis of no effects for all measures. Finally, an instrumental variables approach using a metric defined as the difference in (standardized) mother's height and (standardized) child's birth length supports the results of negative effects. However, inconclusive attempts to validate the exclusion restriction leave this method as something that should be explored further before conclusions can be made. National Science Foundation Graduate Research FellowshipGrant No. 1122374 by Alexandra Fahey. S.M. S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Economics 2019-07-18T20:29:14Z 2019-07-18T20:29:14Z 2019 2019 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121788 1103441880 eng MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 70 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Economics. Fahey, Alexandra(Alexandra Marie) Test score impacts of Cesarean sections |
| title | Test score impacts of Cesarean sections |
| title_full | Test score impacts of Cesarean sections |
| title_fullStr | Test score impacts of Cesarean sections |
| title_full_unstemmed | Test score impacts of Cesarean sections |
| title_short | Test score impacts of Cesarean sections |
| title_sort | test score impacts of cesarean sections |
| topic | Economics. |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121788 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT faheyalexandraalexandramarie testscoreimpactsofcesareansections |