Publication bonus for Kjell Gunnar Salvanes

The NHH Research Committee has awarded Kjell Gunnar Salvanes the maximum publication bonus for an article published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics. Salvanes has, together with two American colleagues, looked at the entire Norwegian population from 1967 to 1984, based on the medical birth records.

23.02.2007 - Red. Foto: Eivind Senneset

Kjell Gunnnar Salvanes

The article From the cradle to the labor market? The effect of birth weight on adult outcomes, concludes that children with a low birth weight attain lower wages and a lower level of education as adults than children with a high birth weight.

The bigger, the better
Birth weight is probably the most important indicator in infant health and well being. The main question researchers have posed is how important infant health is for later development. The answer is unambiguously: the bigger the better, and the differences are relatively large.

"A 10 percent increase in weight means an average of between a third and a fourth increase in length of education. This can mean the difference between a person having or not having a high school education", said Salvanes to Paraplyen when the results from the study were published in 2005.

In addition to salary and education levels a low birth weight leads to a lower IQ. Low birth weight can also affect the height and weight children reach as adults. The data on IQ, weight and height are based on a survey of medical examinations and applies just to boys.