Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
Universal Early-Life Health Policies in the Nordic Countries
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 36,
no. 2, Spring 2022
(pp. 175–98)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Given mounting evidence on the negative impact of early-life shocks for the wellbeing of people over the life course, a growing economics literature studies whether early-life policies have symmetric positive effects. This paper zooms in on research on this topic from the Nordic countries, where all families have access to a comprehensive set of early-life health programs, including prenatal, maternity, and well-infant care. I describe this Nordic model of universal early-life health policies and discuss the existing evidence on its causal effects from two categories of studies. First, studying the introduction of universal policies, research has documented important short- and long-run benefits for the health, education, and labor market trajectories of treated cohorts. Second, exploiting modern-day changes to policy design, research for now documents short- and medium-run impacts of universal care on primarily maternal and child health as well as parental investment behaviors. I conclude with directions for future research.Citation
Wüst, Miriam. 2022. "Universal Early-Life Health Policies in the Nordic Countries." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36 (2): 175–98. DOI: 10.1257/jep.36.2.175Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H51 National Government Expenditures and Health
- I12 Health Behavior
- I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J18 Demographic Economics: Public Policy
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