• Graduate program
    • Why Tinbergen Institute?
    • Research Master
    • Admissions
    • Course Registration
    • Facilities
    • PhD Vacancies
    • Selected PhD Placements
    • Research Master Business Data Science
  • Research
  • Browse our Courses
  • Summer School
  • Events
    • Summer School
      • Applied Public Policy Evaluation
      • Deep Learning
      • Economics of Blockchain and Digital Currencies
      • Economics of Climate Change
      • Foundations of Machine Learning with Applications in Python
      • From Preference to Choice: The Economic Theory of Decision-Making
      • Gender in Society
      • Machine Learning for Business
      • Marketing Research with Purpose
      • Sustainable Finance
      • Tuition Fees and Payment
      • Business Data Science Summer School Program
    • Events Calendar
    • Events Archive
    • Tinbergen Institute Lectures
    • 16th Tinbergen Institute Annual Conference
    • Annual Tinbergen Institute Conference
  • News
  • Alumni

\Dias Pereira\, R., Rietveld, N. and \van Kippersluis\, H. (2025). The Interplay between Maternal Smoking and Genes in Offspring Birth Weight Journal of Human Resources, 60(2):400--433.


  • 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.