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Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?

Birth weight is a key human biological characteristic as a measure of prenatal development and a variable related to later quality of life. Studies have firmly established that a stressful situation in utero adversely affects newborns’ birth weight. Using birth statistics provided by Statistics Kore...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Jung, Hoyong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9884071/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36742060
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11113-023-09759-1
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author Jung, Hoyong
author_facet Jung, Hoyong
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description Birth weight is a key human biological characteristic as a measure of prenatal development and a variable related to later quality of life. Studies have firmly established that a stressful situation in utero adversely affects newborns’ birth weight. Using birth statistics provided by Statistics Korea, this study examined how universal cash transfer during the COVID-19 crisis affected newborns’ birth weight in South Korea. Given that the normal gestation period is nearly 10 months, we chose newborns without a self-selection issue by utilizing information on birthdate and total pregnancy period from the dataset, subsequently applying difference-in-differences estimation. Results showed that universal cash transfer offset newborns’ weight loss amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects differed according to households’ sociodemographic characteristics, with effects being more pronounced for girls; more pronounced for households with more than two children; more pronounced in local districts severely affected during the initial stage of the pandemic, but less significant in metropolitan regions; and more among middle-class families. This study presents evidence that governmental cash transfer during the pandemic has improved newborns’ health and that continuing such a policy would positively impact future generations from a health perspective.
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spelling pubmed-98840712023-01-30 Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic? Jung, Hoyong Popul Res Policy Rev Original Research Birth weight is a key human biological characteristic as a measure of prenatal development and a variable related to later quality of life. Studies have firmly established that a stressful situation in utero adversely affects newborns’ birth weight. Using birth statistics provided by Statistics Korea, this study examined how universal cash transfer during the COVID-19 crisis affected newborns’ birth weight in South Korea. Given that the normal gestation period is nearly 10 months, we chose newborns without a self-selection issue by utilizing information on birthdate and total pregnancy period from the dataset, subsequently applying difference-in-differences estimation. Results showed that universal cash transfer offset newborns’ weight loss amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects differed according to households’ sociodemographic characteristics, with effects being more pronounced for girls; more pronounced for households with more than two children; more pronounced in local districts severely affected during the initial stage of the pandemic, but less significant in metropolitan regions; and more among middle-class families. This study presents evidence that governmental cash transfer during the pandemic has improved newborns’ health and that continuing such a policy would positively impact future generations from a health perspective. Springer Netherlands 2023-01-28 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC9884071/ /pubmed/36742060 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11113-023-09759-1 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Original Research
Jung, Hoyong
Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?
title Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?
title_full Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?
title_fullStr Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?
title_full_unstemmed Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?
title_short Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?
title_sort can universal cash transfer save newborns’ birth weight during the pandemic?
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9884071/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36742060
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11113-023-09759-1
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