Applied Micro Seminar : Every Tuesday
Time: 12:15 pm – 13:30 pm
Date: 1st of April
Room : 3001

Mahesh KARRA  (Boston University) – “Family Planning, Children’s Human Capital, and Women’s Work: Experimental Evidence from Urban Malawi”

Abstract :

I present findings from a randomized controlled trial in Malawi that identifies the causal impact of a comprehensive intervention to improve access to family planning and reproductive health services. A sample of married women who were either pregnant or had recently given birth were randomly assigned to either an intervention arm or a control arm. Women who were assigned to the intervention arm received a package of services over a two-year period that included: 1) a family counseling; 2) free transportation to a high-quality family planning clinic; and 3) reimbursements for family planning services, including for the treatment of contraceptive-related side effects. I find increases in postpartum contraceptive use (by 5.8 p.p.), which is marked by an increase in long-acting method use (by 5.5 p.p.) after two years of intervention exposure. Estimates from an intent-to-treat survival analyses indicate that women in the intervention group were 43.5 percent less likely to be pregnant within two years of their previous birth relative to the control group. In addition, I find that women who were assigned to the intervention arm were 5.3 p.p. more likely to be employed after two years of intervention exposure. This increase in employment is driven by a 4.5 percentage point increase in wage-earning labor. Finally, I find that children born to mothers assigned to the intervention arm were 0.34 SD taller for their age and were 12.0 p.p. less likely to be stunted within a year of exposure to the family planning intervention. Children born to mothers assigned to the intervention arm also scored 0.23 SD higher on a caregiver-reported measure of cognitive development after two years of intervention exposure. Taken together, these findings suggest that improved access to family planning may have positive downstream effects on health that extend beyond impacts on contraceptive use and fertility.

Organizers:
Benoît SCHMUTZ (Pôle économie du CREST)
Clément MALGOUYRES (Pôle économie du CREST)

Sponsors:
CREST