The impact of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on perinatal health: Evidence from the Expansion and Post-expiration Periods

Source: SBE CCC Pilot Grantee Guangyi Wang

New Consortium publication from Pilot Grantee Guangyi Wang and team examines the impact of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on perinatal health. The find the CTC expansion was associated with increased appropriate-for-gestational-age births and decreased small-for-gestational-age and large-for-gestational-age births. These results suggest that the expanded CTC had positive effects on certain perinatal outcomes among low-income families, highlighting the potential of income support policies to reduce health inequities during a critical life stage and informing policymaking.

Multi-panel line chart comparing monthly trends (Jan 2021–Dec 2022) for a treated group (solid line) versus a control group (dashed line) across 12 maternal and infant outcomes. Each panel plots the outcome on the y-axis against month/year of birth on the x-axis, with two vertical dashed reference lines marking key time points. Outcomes shown: gestational age (weeks), preterm birth, birthweight (grams), average for gestational age, large for gestational age, small for gestational age, gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), gestational weight gain (GWG) below guidelines (two panels), GWG within guidelines, and no/late prenatal visits. Overall, the treated and control series move in roughly parallel patterns with modest month-to-month variation, and the treated group generally shows slightly higher gestational age and birthweight and slightly lower preterm birth than the control group.