Andalon, MabelAzevedo, Joao PedroRodriguez Castelan, CarlosSanfelice, VivianeValderrama, Daniel2014-12-032014-12-032014-11https://hdl.handle.net/10986/20636Poor health at birth has negative long-run effects on individual well-being and is also detrimental for intergenerational mobility. This paper examines whether health outcomes at birth are affected by in utero increased exposure to rainfall and temperature shocks in Colombia, one of the countries in the world with the highest incidence of extreme weather events per year. The paper uses a fixed effects design to gauge the causal effect using variation in fetal exposure to these shocks by municipality and date of birth. The analysis finds negative effects of temperature shocks on birth health outcomes and no effect of rainfall shocks. The results indicate that heat waves lead to a 0.5 percentage point reduction in the probability of being born at full term and a decline of 0.4 percentage point in the probability of newborns classified as healthy. The timing of exposure to the shock matters and it matters differently for different outcomes. These findings are critical to prioritize responses to counteract the negative effects of weather, particularly hot shocks, which are projected to become more frequent and intense with changing climate.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOABNORMALITIESADULT HEALTHADULTHOODADVERSE EFFECTADVERSE WEATHERAFFECTED COUNTRYAIDANNUAL FLUCTUATIONS IN WEATHERBABIESBABYBIRTH WEIGHTBIRTHWEIGHTBULLETINCAESAREAN SECTIONCHANGES IN PRECIPITATIONCHILD HEALTHCHRONIC DISEASESCLIMATECLIMATE CHANGECOLD WEATHERDEATHSDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDISASTERSDISEASEDISEASESDROUGHTDROUGHT INDEXDROUGHT INDICESDROUGHT SEVERITYEARLY CHILDHOODEARTHQUAKEEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEXTREME DROUGHTEXTREME HEATEXTREME HEAT WAVESEXTREME PRECIPITATIONEXTREME WEATHEREXTREME WEATHER EVENTEXTREME WEATHER EVENTSFEMALEFEMALE MORTALITYFETUSFIRST BIRTHSFLOODFLOODINGFLOODSFOOD SECURITYHEALTH CAREHEALTH CONSEQUENCESHEALTH EFFECTSHEALTH INDICATORSHEALTH OUTCOMESHUMAN CAPITALIMPACT OF WEATHERIMPACTS OF WEATHERINDIVIDUAL WELFAREINFANTINFANT MORTALITYINFANT MORTALITY RATEINFECTIONSINFLUENZAINFLUENZA PANDEMICINSURANCE SCHEMESLABOR MARKETLIVE BIRTHSLOW BIRTH WEIGHTMALNUTRITIONMATERNAL NUTRITIONMIGRATIONMORBIDITYMORTALITYMORTALITY RATESMOTHERMULTIPLE BIRTHSNATURAL DISASTERSNEGATIVE EFFECTSNEWBORNNEWBORNSNUTRITIONPERINATAL MORTALITYPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY MAKERSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOOR HEALTHPRECIPITATION PATTERNSPREGNANCIESPREGNANCYPREGNANT MOTHERSPREGNANT WOMENPROGRESSPSYCHOLOGYPUBLIC HEALTHRESPECTRESPIRATIONRURAL AREASRURAL POPULATIONSSEVERE WEATHERSEVERE WEATHER EVENTSSEXSOCIAL MOBILITYSOCIAL PROGRAMSSOCIOECONOMIC STATUSTERRORISTTERTIARY EDUCATIONVICTIMSVITAL STATISTICSWATER RESOURCESWATER SCARCITYWEATHERWEATHER CONDITIONSWEATHER EVENTWEATHER INSURANCEWEATHER SHOCKWEATHER SHOCKS10.1596/1813-9450-7081