TY - JOUR AU - Corman,Hope AU - Joyce,Theodore J. AU - Grossman,Michael TI - Birth Outcome Production Functions in the U.S. JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 1729 PY - 1987 Y2 - December 1987 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1729 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1729.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Hope Corman Rider University 2083 Lawrenceville Road Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 Tel: 609/895-5559 Fax: 609/896-5387 E-Mail: corman@rider.edu Theodore J. Joyce Baruch College & Graduate Center, CUNY 365 Fifth Ave, 5th Fl New York, NY 10016-4309 Tel: 212/817-7960 Fax: 212/817-1597 E-Mail: theodore.joyce@baruch.cuny.edu Michael Grossman Ph.D. Program in Economics City University of New York Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor New York, NY 10016-4309 Tel: 212/817-7959 Fax: 212/817-1597 E-Mail: mgrossman@gc.cuny.edu AB - This paper contains the first infant health production functions that simultaneously consider the effects of a variety of inputs on race-specific neonatal mortality rates. These inputs include the use of prenatal care, neonatal intensive care, abortion, Federally subsidized organized family planning clinics, maternal and infant care projects, community health centers, and the WIC program. The empirical analysis is based on a cross section of U.S. counties in 1977, and the incidence of low birth weight (2,500 grams or less) is employed as an intermediate outcome. This allows us to examine the extent to which prenatal inputs operate directly on neonatal mortality and also allows us to examine their indirect effects on mortality rates through low birth weight. Since mothers with poor endowed birth outcomes will attempt to offset these unfavorable prospects by utilizing more health inputs, major emphasis is placed on two-stage least squares estimatesof the production function. Our results underscore the qualitative and quantitative importance of abortion, prenatal care, neonatal intensive care,and the WIC program in black and white birth outcomes. ER -