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The World Bank Research Observer Advance Access originally published online on January 12, 2006
The World Bank Research Observer 2006 21(1):25-48; doi:10.1093/wbro/lkj001
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / THE WORLD BANK. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Reducing the Incidence of Low Birth Weight in Low-Income Countries Has Substantial Economic Benefits

Harold Alderman and Jere R. Behrman

Harold Alderman is a lead human development economist in the Africa Region of the World Bank; his e-mail address is halderman{at}worldbank.org. Jere R. Behrman is the William R. Kenan Jr Professor of Economics and a research associate of the Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania; his e-mail address is jbehrman{at}econ.upenn.edu.

Reducing the incidence of low birth weight not only lowers infant mortality rates but also has multiple benefits over the life cycle. This study estimates the economic benefits of reducing the incidence of low birth weight in low-income countries, both through lower mortality rates and medical costs and through increased learning and productivity. The estimated economic benefits, under plausible assumptions, are fairly substantial, at about $510 per infant moved from a low-birth-weight status. The estimated gains are primarily from increases in labor productivity (partially through more education) and secondarily from avoiding costs due to infant illness and death. Thus there may be many interventions to reduce the incidence of low birth weight that are warranted purely on the grounds of saving resources or increasing productivity.


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