JESS Seminar: CANCELLED/POSTPONED (Growing) Up in smoke? Maternal pre- and post-natal behaviours and child development

This paper estimates the causal impact of maternal pre- and post-natal smoking on child development using a joint model of maternal smoking and child outcomes. Our empirical strategy exploits panel data and uses data on children of young, disadvantaged first-time mothers in England, amongst whom the likelihood of smoking is twice as large as that of the average mother. We add to the literature by showing that these effects persist and negatively affect child development measured at 14 months old and that maternal smoking one year after birth negatively a
ffects development as well. Failing to account for the endogeneity of maternal smoking under-estimates the negative impacts of maternal smoking on child development. This suggests that mothers adjust their smoking to compensate for their children’s endowment by selecting out of smoking when their child is frailer.