We study the effects of prenatal exposure to violent crime on infant health, using New York City crime records linked to mothers' addresses in birth records data. We address endogeneity of assault exposure with three strategies and find that in utero assault exposure significantly increases the incidence of adverse birth outcomes. We calculate that the annual social cost of assault during pregnancy in the US is more than $3.8 billion. Since infant health predicts long-term wellbeing and disadvantaged women are disproportionately likely to be domestic abuse victims, violence in utero may be an important channel for intergenerational transmission of inequality.

中文翻译：

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子宫内的暴力：怀孕期间的袭击对出生结果的影响

我们使用与出生记录数据中母亲地址相关的纽约市犯罪记录来研究产前接触暴力犯罪对婴儿健康的影响。我们通过三种策略来解决攻击暴露的内生性，并发现在子宫内攻击暴露会显着增加不良出生结果的发生率。我们计算出在美国怀孕期间遭受攻击的年度社会成本超过 38 亿美元。由于婴儿健康预示着长期福祉，而处于不利地位的妇女成为家庭虐待受害者的可能性更大，因此子宫内的暴力可能是不平等代际传递的重要渠道。