Baird, SarahFriedman, JedSchady, Norbert2012-06-112012-06-112007-09https://hdl.handle.net/10986/7627The diffusion of cost-effective life saving technologies has reduced infant mortality in much of the developing world. Income gains may also play a direct, protective role in ensuring child survival, although the empirical findings to date on this issue have been mixed. This paper assembles data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 59 countries to analyze the relationship between changes in per capita GDP and infant mortality. The authors show that there is a strong, negative association between changes in per capita GDP and infant mortality- in a first-differenced specification the implied elasticity of infant mortality with respect to per capita GDP is approximately -0.56. In addition to this central result, two findings are noteworthy. First, although there is some evidence of changes in the composition of women giving birth during economic upturns and downturns, the observed changes in infant mortality are not a result of mothers with protective characteristics timing fertility to correspond with the business cycle. Second, the association between infant mortality and per capita GDP is particularly pronounced for periods of large contractions in GDP, suggesting the inability of developing country households or health systems (or both) to smooth resources. Simple back-of-the-envelope calculations using the estimates suggest that there may have been more than 1 million "excess" deaths in the developing world since 1980 as a result of large, negative contractions in per capita GDP.CC BY 3.0 IGOABILITY TO PAYADULT HEALTHADULT MORTALITYAIDS EPIDEMICAIR POLLUTIONARMED CONFLICTARMED CONFLICTSBABIESCARE FOR CHILDRENCENSUSESCHILD BIRTHCHILD DEATHSCHILD HEALTHCIVIL CONFLICTCIVIL WARCOMPLICATIONSDEMOGRAPHIC SURVEYSDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDISCRIMINATIONDISEASE CONTROLECONOMIC CHANGEECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC POLICYEQUILIBRIUMEXPENDITURESFAMILIESFEMALE CHILDRENFEMALE EDUCATIONFEMALE MORTALITYFERTILITYFIRST BIRTHSGENDERGENDER DIFFERENCESGLOBAL DEVELOPMENTHEALTH ECONOMICSHEALTH OUTCOMESHEALTH SERVICESHEALTH STATUSHIVHIV INFECTIONHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN RESOURCESHYGIENEIMPROVEMENTS IN CHILD SURVIVALINCOMEINFANTINFANT DEATHINFANT DEATHSINFANT HEALTHINFANT MORTALITYINFANT MORTALITY RATEINFANT MORTALITY RATESINFANTSINFECTION RATESINTEGRATIONLIFE EXPECTANCYLIVE BIRTHSLOW BIRTHWEIGHTMALARIAMALE MORTALITYMANDATESMATERNAL HEALTHMEDICAL ATTENTIONMEDICAL TECHNOLOGYMILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALSMORBIDITYMORTALITY DECLINEMORTALITY RISKMOTHERMULTIPLE BIRTHMULTIPLE BIRTHSNATALITY DATANEONATAL MORTALITYNUMBER OF BIRTHSNUMBER OF DEATHSNUTRITIONOLDER WOMENPEACEPLACE OF RESIDENCEPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLITICAL PARTICIPATIONPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENTPOPULATION ASSOCIATIONPREGNANCYPRENATAL CAREPREVENTIVE HEALTH CAREPRIMARY SCHOOLINGPROBABILITYPROGRESSPUBLIC HEALTHPUBLIC HEALTH EXPENDITURESPUBLIC HEALTH SERVICESPUBLIC SERVICESPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYRADIATIONRESPECTRURAL AREASSEXSEX RATIOSMOKINGSOCIAL SCIENCESTATE UNIVERSITYSUB-SAHARAN AFRICATRINIDAD AND TOBAGOURBAN AREASUSE OF HEALTH SERVICESVITAL STATISTICSVULNERABILITYWOMANWORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATIONYOUNG CHILDRENYOUNG MOTHERYOUNG MOTHERSWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4346