Soaking Up the Sun: The Role of Sunshine in the Production of Infant Health

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dc.contributor.authorTrudeau J
dc.contributor.authorConway KS
dc.contributor.authorMenclova A
dc.date.accessioned2019-12-01T21:13:05Z
dc.date.available2019-12-01T21:13:05Z
dc.date.issued2016en
dc.date.updated2019-11-20T21:45:17Z
dc.description.abstractThis research explores the role of sunshine in birth outcomes production, focusing primarily on fetal growth. The most obvious mechanism is through Vitamin D absorption, which could explain racial disparities in birth weight because skin pigmentation inhibits this process. However, sunshine may have additional effects and is closely connected to environmental factors, season of birth, and geography. Combining daily weather data with 1989-2004 birth outcomes from the Natality Detail Files, we estimate sunshine’s effects in a range of models that disentangle these confounding factors. Our results suggest that sunshine has a positive but diminishing effect on birth weight for Blacks and a negative effect for Whites. These findings are consistent with the presumed positive but diminishing effects of sunshine via Vitamin D balanced against the possible negative effects via folic acid depletion and immune system impairment. The estimated magnitudes are in line with those found for other key factors such as feeding programs and air pollution and suggest that sunshine’s effects explain a nontrivial portion of racial differences in birth weight. Implications include possible interventions (vitamin supplementation for Blacks, sun avoidance for Whites) and the need to include sunshine as a potentially important factor in birth outcomes research. (JEL Codes: I1, Q5)en
dc.identifier.citationTrudeau J, Conway KS, Menclova A (2016). Soaking Up the Sun: The Role of Sunshine in the Production of Infant Health. American Journal of Health Economics. 2(1). 1-40.en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1162/AJHE_a_00032
dc.identifier.issn2332-3493
dc.identifier.issn2332-3507
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10092/17724
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Chicago Pressen
dc.subjectinfant healthen
dc.subjectweatheren
dc.subjectsunshineen
dc.subjectracial disparitiesen
dc.subject.anzsrcFields of Research::38 - Economics::3801 - Applied economics::380108 - Health economicsen
dc.subject.anzsrcFields of Research::32 - Biomedical and clinical sciences::3215 - Reproductive medicine::321501 - Foetal development and medicineen
dc.titleSoaking Up the Sun: The Role of Sunshine in the Production of Infant Healthen
dc.typeJournal Articleen
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