Three essays on the economics of health

This thesis consists of three essays that investigate issues related to the economics of health. All three studies examine the case of Mexico and draw on the first wave of the Mexican Family Life Survey (2002). The first two essays focus on school age children and the second on women.;In the first essay, I look for evidence of increasing overweight—evaluated in terms of body mass index (BMI)—and examine possible contributing factors. I find that prevalence of overweight increased for both boys and girls in recent years. To look for factors that may contribute to this increase, I propose a theoretical model of a mother's allocation of food and time, from which I obtain her reduced-form demand for weight adequacy of her child. I empirically estimate this demand measured as the probability that a child is overweight. Results indicate that contributing factors to the growth of overweight in children are: (i) increases in mother's BMI and in community median BMI of male adults; and (ii) particularly for boys, less presence of father at home and an increase in maternal labor supply.;In the second essay, I study the effects of maternal education on hemoglobin levels and possible consequences of anemia among children. Childhood anemia may impair physical growth, weaken the ability to fight infections, affect the development of motor and learning capacities, and reduce physical performance and endurance. All of these have potential negative consequences on school functioning, accumulation of human capital, and future labor productivity. Results point out to positive effects of maternal education. I find evidence of maternal education being endogenous and possibly contaminated with measurement error. There is evidence suggesting that maternal education might be related to public health services through a substitution effect. Results also reveal that mother's labor supply is negatively associated with hemoglobin levels.;In the third essay, I examine whether sexual and reproductive behavior of Mexican women changed due to public initiatives promoting birth control and family planning launched in the 1970s. I use a variety of indicators to characterize sexual and reproductive behavior: first sexual encounter, first and second pregnancies, and utilization of contraceptive methods. To identify the effects of public programs, I make use of individual exposure to in-school sexual education and to birth control promotion in public health facilities. Results suggest that in-school sex education increased the hazard of first sexual intercourse but did not affect the hazard of first pregnancy. Both sex education in schools and exposure to campaigns in public health facilities decreased the hazard of a second pregnancy. There is also some evidence supporting positive effects of sex education on the use of contraception methods.