Updated Estimates of the Impact of Prenatal Care on Birthweight Outcomes by Race
利用1975-1984年美国县级数据估计出生体重生产函数，发现早期产前护理能降低黑人和白人的低出生体重率，但种族间产前护理使用差异仅能解释一小部分低出生体重率的种族差异。
This paper estimates a quasi-structural birthweight production function using data on counties for the years 1975-1984. The analysis focuses on the effects of first trimester initiation of prenatal care, controlling for use of abortion services, cigarette smoking, birth order and income. Fixed effects model is used to control for unmeasured differences in health endowments across counties. The results indicate that early first trimester initiation of prenatal care leads to a reduction in low birthweight for both blacks and whites. Differences in use of prenatal care by race explain only a small part of the black-white differences in the fraction of low birthweight births.