Research
Job Market Paper:
Noghanibehambari, H Revealed Comparative Disadvantage of Infants: Exposure to NAFTA and Birth Outcomes (slides: Here)
Abstract:
This paper examines the effects of trade liberalization under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on infants’ health outcomes in the US. I explore this question by implementing event studies and difference-in-difference regressions that compare birth outcomes of infants born in different years relative to NAFTA and localities with differential exposure to import competition. Using more than 88M birth records of Natality data, I find significant negative effects on a wide range of birth outcomes. The adverse effects are much larger for infants at the lower tails of birth weight and gestational age distribution. The heterogeneity analysis suggests larger effects for low-educated mothers and female infants. I show that these effects are not driven by selective fertility and preexisting trends in birth outcomes. Additional analyses using a wide range of alternative data sources suggest several potential pathways, including reductions in income-employment, decreases in housing wealth, lower health care utilization, lower health insurance use, and lower-quality health insurance. Finally, I provide discussions on the policy implications of these findings.