Almond, Douglas; Mazumder, Bhashkar - In: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3 (2011) 4, pp. 56-85
This paper uses the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as a natural experiment in diurnal fasting and fetal health. Among births to Arab parents in Michigan, we find prenatal exposure to Ramadan results in lower birth weight. Exposure in the first month of gestation also reduces the number of male...