TY  - JOUR
AU  - Almond,Douglas
AU  - Mazumder,Bhashkar
TI  - Health Capital and the Prenatal Environment: The Effect of Maternal Fasting During Pregnancy
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14428
PY  - 2008
Y2  - October 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14428
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14428.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Douglas Almond
Department of Economics
Columbia University
International Affairs Building, MC 3308
420 West 118th Street
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212/854-7248
Fax: 212/854-3239
E-Mail: da2152@columbia.edu

Bhashkar Mazumder
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
230 S. LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL  60604
Tel: 312-322-8166
E-Mail: bmazumder@frbchi.org
AB  - We use the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as a natural experiment in fasting and fetal health. In Michigan births 1989-2006, we find prenatal exposure to Ramadan among Arab mothers results in lower birthweight and reduced gestation length. Exposure to Ramadan in the first month of gestation is also associated with a sizable reduction in the number of male births. In Census data for Uganda, Iraq, and the US we find strong associations between in utero exposure to Ramadan and the likelihood of being disabled as an adult. Effects are particularly large for mental (or learning) disabilities. We also find significant effects on proxies for wealth, earnings, the sex composition of the adult population, and more suggestive evidence of effects on schooling. We find no evidence that negative selection in conceptions during Ramadan accounts for our findings, suggesting that avoiding Ramadan exposure during pregnancy is costly or the long-term effects of fasting unknown.
ER  -