The long-term effect of the maternal and infant health act on the human capital of adolescents in China

Abstract

ABSTRACT We study the long-term effects of the Maternal and Infant Health Act (MIHA) on the human capital of adolescents in China. We exploit the variation in the availability of the intervention created by the cut-off date of the implementation of the MIHA and estimate a RD-DID model. We find no significant treatment effects on education or health outcomes for the full sample. In the subsample analysis, we find significant positive treatment effects on both education and health outcomes for adolescents with higher educated mothers, but no significant effects for those with lower educated mothers.