Saving Lives at Birth: The Impact of Home Births on Infant Outcomes
利用荷兰数据，通过母亲住所到医院距离的外生变化，发现医院分娩显著降低低风险新生儿的死亡率，可能得益于医疗技术的可及性。
Many developed countries have recently experienced sharp increases in home birth rates. This paper investigates the impact of home births on the health of low-risk newborns using data from the Netherlands, the only developed country where home births are widespread. To account for endogeneity in location of birth, we exploit the exogenous variation in distance from a mother's residence to the closest hospital. We find that giving birth in a hospital leads to substantial reductions in newborn mortality. We provide suggestive evidence that proximity to medical technologies may be an important channel contributing to these health gains.