Date and Time
February 7, 2007
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Availability
Open to the public
No RSVP required

Speaker
Grant Miller - PhD, CHP/PCOR Core Faculty Member at Stanford University

Abstract

Women's preferences are thought to place greater weight on child welfare and the provision of public goods than do those of men. Empowering women is therefore seen as a potent means of increasing investments in children. This paper provides new evidence on how a historical milestone in the advancement of American women -- their enfranchisement through suffrage rights -- influenced infant and child mortality. I find that women's suffrage helped children to benefit from the scientific breakthroughs of the bacteriological revolution, increasing public health spending by 20% and decreasing child mortality by 8-15%. These results suggest two general conclusions: (1) Beyond lump-sum transfers targeted to women, strengthening the expression of women's preferences can deliver large benefits to children, and (2) Although health improvement strategies in high-mortality environments often focus on supply-side obstacles, demand-side approaches also deserve careful attention.