Weather Shocks and Health at Birth in Colombia

28 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

Date Written: November 1, 2014

Abstract

Poor health at birth has negative long-run effects on individual well-being and is also detrimental for intergenerational mobility. This paper examines whether health outcomes at birth are affected by in utero increased exposure to rainfall and temperature shocks in Colombia, one of the countries in the world with the highest incidence of extreme weather events per year. The paper uses a fixed effects design to gauge the causal effect using variation in fetal exposure to these shocks by municipality and date of birth. The analysis finds negative effects of temperature shocks on birth health outcomes and no effect of rainfall shocks. The results indicate that heat waves lead to a 0.5 percentage point reduction in the probability of being born at full term and a decline of 0.4 percentage point in the probability of newborns classified as healthy. The timing of exposure to the shock matters and it matters differently for different outcomes. These findings are critical to prioritize responses to counteract the negative effects of weather, particularly hot shocks, which are projected to become more frequent and intense with changing climate.

Keywords: Climate Change and Health, Educational Sciences, Climate Change and Environment, Inequality, Science of Climate Change, Social Protections & Assistance

Suggested Citation

Andalon, Mabel and Rodriguez-Castelan, Carlos and Sanfelice, Viviane and Wagner de Azevedo, João Pedro and Valderrama, Daniel, Weather Shocks and Health at Birth in Colombia (November 1, 2014). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 7081, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2518828

Mabel Andalon (Contact Author)

University of Melbourne ( email )

185 Pelham Street
Carlton, Victoria 3053
Australia

Carlos Rodriguez-Castelan

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Viviane Sanfelice

University of Rochester ( email )

300 Crittenden Blvd.
Rochester, NY 14627
United States

João Pedro Wagner de Azevedo

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Daniel Valderrama

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

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