The Hidden Costs of War: Exposure to Armed Conflict and Birth Outcomes

• In Event: 188 - Regular Session. Population Processes

Abstract

Research suggests that exposure to environmental stressors is detrimental even if it occurs before birth. However, capturing causal effects is difficult because exposed women may be selected on unobserved factors. We evaluate the effect of acute maternal stress among Israeli women by exploiting the month-long 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war as a natural experiment and accounting for unobserved selectivity through siblings fixed effects. Findings show that exposure to war in early pregnancy lowers birthweight, an effect that is stronger among more disadvantaged Arab than Jewish women. The effect is not driven by geographic sorting, migration, or increased miscarriages. Given that exposure to environmental stressors is stratified along socioeconomic and racial lines, and that birthweight predicts developmental and socioeconomic outcomes, prenatal exposure to acute environmental stressors may have long-term effects, contributing to the intergenerational reproduction of inequality.

Authors

• Florencia Torche, New York University

• Uri Shwed, Ben Gurion University-Negev