Dias Pereira, R., Rietveld, N. and van Kippersluis, H. (2022). The Interplay between Maternal Smoking and Genes in Offspring Birth Weight Journal of Human Resources, :.


  • Journal
    Journal of Human Resources

It is well-established that birth weight is affected by the child{\textquoteright}s genetic endowments and maternal smoking during pregnancy. Here, we investigate whether an interaction between genetic endowments and maternal smoking on birth weight exists. We instrument the maternal smoking decision with a genetic variant (rs1051730) located in the nicotine receptor gene CHRNA3 and deal with the underreporting of maternal smoking by using a biomarker of nicotine collected during pregnancy. We confirm that genetic endowments and maternal smoking negatively affect the child{\textquoteright}s birth weight. However, we do not find evidence of meaningful interactions between genetic endowments and maternal smoking.