Publication Information
The so-called “fetal origins hypothesis” has increased the interest of health economists in the importance of the environment during the first 1,000 days of life following conception. Economists have found growing evidence that the lifelong trajectory of human capital formation is strongly governed by the level of healthcare that children receive during this time period. This paper follows recent literature in asking how gender-biased investments in earlylife healthcare can affect long-term educational outcomes for boys and girls.
The so-called “fetal origins hypothesis” has increased the interest of health economists in the importance of the environment during the first 1,000 days of life following conception. Economists have found growing evidence that the lifelong trajectory of human capital formation is strongly governed by the level of healthcare that children receive during this time period. This paper follows recent literature in asking how gender-biased investments in earlylife healthcare can affect long-term educational outcomes for boys and girls.