Okeke Edward N, Abubakar Isa S
Department of Economics, Sociology and Statistics, RAND, 1200 South Hayes, Arlington, VA 22202.
Department of Community Medicine, Bayero University Kano and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.
J Dev Econ. 2020 Mar;143. doi: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102426. Epub 2019 Nov 22.
Households in poor countries are encouraged (and sometimes coerced) to increase investments in formal health care services during pregnancy and childbirth. Is this good policy? The answer to a large extent depends on its effects on child welfare. We study the effects of a cash transfer program in Nigeria in which households were offered a payment of $14 conditioned on uptake of health services. We show that the transfer led to a large increase in uptake and a substantial increase in child survival driven by a decrease in in-utero child deaths. We present evidence suggesting that the key driver is prenatal health investments.
贫困国家鼓励(有时是强制)家庭在孕期和分娩期间增加对正规医疗服务的投资。这是一项好政策吗?答案在很大程度上取决于其对儿童福利的影响。我们研究了尼日利亚一项现金转移计划的效果,在该计划中,家庭只要使用医疗服务就能获得14美元的补贴。我们发现,这种转移支付导致医疗服务使用率大幅提高,并且由于子宫内胎儿死亡人数减少,儿童存活率也大幅提高。我们提供的证据表明,关键驱动因素是产前健康投资。