Comment on the Identification Strategy in "Family Ruptures, Stress, and the Mental Health of the Next Generation"

Matsumoto, Brett (2016): Comment on the Identification Strategy in "Family Ruptures, Stress, and the Mental Health of the Next Generation".

Abstract

The identification strategy of using expected date of birth to define treatment used by Persson and Rossin-Slater (2016) to estimate the causal effect of in utero exposure to stress on later outcomes has two potential flaws. First, the endogeneity of actual birth date may make little practical difference. Second, there is likely greater measurement error of gestation age in the treatment group. The conclusion that the authors are the first to obtain a causal estimates in this context would be more credible had these issues been addressed.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Maternal Stress, Family Ruptures, Mental Health
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I10 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I31 - General Welfare, Well-Being; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J13 - Fertility ; Family Planning ; Child Care ; Children ; Youth

References

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Persson, P. and M. Rossin-Slater (2016). Family ruptures, stress, and the mental health of the next generation. American Economic Review forthcoming.

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