Can Basic Maternal Literacy Skills Improve Infant Health Outcomes? Evidence from the Education Act in Nepal
利用尼泊尔1971年教育法案作为准自然实验，研究发现母亲多上一年学能使5岁以下儿童死亡率降低4.5个百分点，对评估教育政策对健康的影响有参考价值。
The National Education System Plan, implemented in 1971, reshaped the education system of Nepal and increased access to education among females. I use this dramatic change in Nepal’s education system as a quasi-natural experiment to identify the effect of maternal literacy skills and highest level of schooling on infant and child mortality outcomes. The results suggest that the reform improved educational attainment among females of school-going age during the time of the reform but had no effect on males’ educational attainment. Using within-cohort and across-district variations in educational outcomes due to the reform, I find that one more year of maternal schooling reduces the under-5 mortality rate by 4.5 percentage points.