It's a Long Walk: Lasting Effects of the Openings of Maternity Wards on Labour Market Performance
(2018) In Lund Papers in Economic Demography- Abstract
- Studies showing that large-scale public health interventions in early life have lasting
consequences are still scarce and rarely disclose the mechanisms. In 1931–1946, the Swedish
state reformed the childbirth institutional system that led to the openings of the new maternity
wards and to the gradual decline in home deliveries assisted by midwives. Maternity wards
offered improved conditions for a mother and a newborn, such as hygiene, surgical
proficiency and medications, health monitoring, and opportunity to recover. This paper aims
at exploring the long-term economic effects of access to better health services at birth using
openings of maternity wards as a quasi-experiment. It employs register-based... (More) - Studies showing that large-scale public health interventions in early life have lasting
consequences are still scarce and rarely disclose the mechanisms. In 1931–1946, the Swedish
state reformed the childbirth institutional system that led to the openings of the new maternity
wards and to the gradual decline in home deliveries assisted by midwives. Maternity wards
offered improved conditions for a mother and a newborn, such as hygiene, surgical
proficiency and medications, health monitoring, and opportunity to recover. This paper aims
at exploring the long-term economic effects of access to better health services at birth using
openings of maternity wards as a quasi-experiment. It employs register-based individual-level
data on the total population, observed in the first month of life and in ages 37–64, and multi-
sourced archival data on characteristics of the reform. The empirical strategy makes use of a
difference-in-differences method and geo-coding techniques. The paper first finds that the
reform substantially reduced neonatal mortality in the short term. It then shows sizable long-
term effects of the introduction of maternity wards versus a midwifery-assisted home
childbirth, amounting 2.4–4.7 percent for labour income and 4.4–11.9 percent for disability
2
pension. The effects run directly through better health (up to 8.5 percent decrease in the
length of stay in hospital) and indirectly through higher educational attainment (up to 9.4
percent increase in the propensity to complete high school). Both large-scale remote and
small local maternity wards produce similarly strong long-term effects, which are explained
by an equal distribution of early-life health technology, exemplified in the paper by the
arrival of sulphona (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2e4afa09-ea29-4e68-a27e-8fdf51f6c8fb
- author
- Lazuka, Volha LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018
- type
- Working paper/Preprint
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Lund Papers in Economic Demography
- issue
- 2018:5
- pages
- 67 pages
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 2e4afa09-ea29-4e68-a27e-8fdf51f6c8fb
- alternative location
- https://www.lusem.lu.se/sites/lusem.lu.se/files/2024-07/LPED%202018%205.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2026-05-06 13:18:18
- date last changed
- 2026-05-06 13:18:18
@misc{2e4afa09-ea29-4e68-a27e-8fdf51f6c8fb,
abstract = {{Studies showing that large-scale public health interventions in early life have lasting<br/>consequences are still scarce and rarely disclose the mechanisms. In 1931–1946, the Swedish<br/>state reformed the childbirth institutional system that led to the openings of the new maternity<br/>wards and to the gradual decline in home deliveries assisted by midwives. Maternity wards<br/>offered improved conditions for a mother and a newborn, such as hygiene, surgical<br/>proficiency and medications, health monitoring, and opportunity to recover. This paper aims<br/>at exploring the long-term economic effects of access to better health services at birth using<br/>openings of maternity wards as a quasi-experiment. It employs register-based individual-level<br/>data on the total population, observed in the first month of life and in ages 37–64, and multi-<br/>sourced archival data on characteristics of the reform. The empirical strategy makes use of a<br/>difference-in-differences method and geo-coding techniques. The paper first finds that the<br/>reform substantially reduced neonatal mortality in the short term. It then shows sizable long-<br/>term effects of the introduction of maternity wards versus a midwifery-assisted home<br/>childbirth, amounting 2.4–4.7 percent for labour income and 4.4–11.9 percent for disability<br/>2<br/>pension. The effects run directly through better health (up to 8.5 percent decrease in the<br/>length of stay in hospital) and indirectly through higher educational attainment (up to 9.4<br/>percent increase in the propensity to complete high school). Both large-scale remote and<br/>small local maternity wards produce similarly strong long-term effects, which are explained<br/>by an equal distribution of early-life health technology, exemplified in the paper by the<br/>arrival of sulphona}},
author = {{Lazuka, Volha}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Working Paper}},
number = {{2018:5}},
series = {{Lund Papers in Economic Demography}},
title = {{It's a Long Walk: Lasting Effects of the Openings of Maternity Wards on Labour Market Performance}},
url = {{https://www.lusem.lu.se/sites/lusem.lu.se/files/2024-07/LPED%202018%205.pdf}},
year = {{2018}},
}