This paper investigates the impact of exposure to a serious, unusual, and unforeseen malaria epidemic in North East Brazil in 1938-1940 on subsequent human capital attainment. Arguing the event was exogenous, it exploits cohort- and regional-heterogeneity in exposure to identify effects. Given...

We examine the effects of different kinds of domestic abuse (physical violence, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and physical violence while the victim is pregnant) on health outcomes of children born to victims. We use data on approximately 0.6 million children born between 1975 and 2013 across...

This paper investigates the potential of maternal and infant health programs to improve the life expectancy of women and children. We study a program trialed in 1931-1933 in seven Swedish medical districts before it was rolled out at the national level in 1937, digitizing and assembling...

We analyze long-term impacts of the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War, providing the first evidence of intergenerational impacts. Women exposed to the war in their growing years exhibit reduced adult stature, increased likelihood of being overweight, earlier age at first birth, and lower educational...

Millions of women continue to die during and soon after childbirth, even where the knowledge and resources to avoid this are available. We posit that raising the share of women in parliament can trigger action. Leveraging the timing of gender quota legislation across developing countries, we...

We investigate women's fertility, labor and marriage market responses to a health innovation that led to reductions in mortality from treatable causes, and especially large declines in child mortality. We find delayed childbearing, with lower intensive and extensive margin fertility, a decline...