We investigate the effects of early-life medical treatments on the treated children and their families. We use a regression discontinuity design that exploits changes in medical treatments across the very low birth weight (VLBW) cutoff. Using administrative data from Denmark, we establish that VLBW children have better health and higher test scores. We find that these benefits spill over to other family members: mothers enjoy better mental health and siblings have higher test scores. Maternal mental health improvements seem to be driven by better focal child health, and sibling spillovers by improved interactions within the family and parental compensating behavior.

中文翻译：

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生命早期医疗干预的溢出效应

我们调查了早期医学治疗对接受治疗的儿童及其家人的影响。我们使用回归不连续性设计，该设计利用了极低出生体重 (VLBW) 截止值的医疗变化。使用丹麦的行政数据，我们确定 VLBW 儿童的健康状况更好，考试成绩更高。我们发现这些好处会蔓延到其他家庭成员身上：母亲的心理健康状况更好，兄弟姐妹的考试成绩更高。母亲心理健康的改善似乎是由更好的重点儿童健康驱动的，而兄弟姐妹则是通过改善家庭内部的互动和父母的补偿行为来推动的。