TY  - JOUR
AU  - Thomasson,Melissa A.
AU  - Treber,Jaret
TI  - From Home to Hospital: The Evolution of Childbirth in the United States, 1927-1940
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10873
PY  - 2004
Y2  - November 2004
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10873
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10873.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Melissa A. Thomasson
Miami University/FSB
Department of Economics MSC 1035
800 E. High Street, Rm. #2054
Oxford, OH  45056
Tel: 513/529-2858
Fax: 513/529-8047
E-Mail: thomasma@muohio.edu

Jaret Treber
Dept. of Economics
Kenyon College
Gambier Ohio
E-Mail: jaret@bpa.arizona.edu
AB  - This paper examines the shift in childbirth from home to hospital that occurred in the United States in the early twentieth century. Using a panel of city-level data over the period 1927-1940, we examine the shift of childbirth from home to hospital and analyze the impact of medical care on maternal mortality. Results suggest that increased operative intervention on the part of physicians and a resultant greater risk of infection increased maternal mortality prior to the introduction of sulfa drugs in 1937. However, the introduction of sulfa enabled doctors to reduce maternal mortality by enabling them to do potentially life-saving procedures (such as cesareans) without the risk of subsequent infection. Regressions estimated separately by race suggest that the impact of medical care on maternal mortality differed for blacks and whites. Relative to whites, hospitals posed a greater risk for black mothers prior to the availability of sulfa drugs in 1937, and were less beneficial for them afterwards, suggesting that blacks may have received lower quality medical care.
ER  -