When Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) was elected Speaker of the House in October 2015, he talked about his goal to “pay off our national debt so that we can grow our economy and give our children and grandchildren a more prosperous future and not saddle them with our debts.”
But the most recent House budget resolution—like earlier House budgets authored by Republican leaders—will burden America’s children and grandchildren with slower economic growth. Many of the most severe spending cuts in the House budget target environmental, health care, and nutrition programs. These programs make children healthier, which in turn raises future workforce productivity and labor force participation—two ingredients for faster economic growth.
These cuts fit into a broader philosophy of austerity and neglect that disproportionately affects low-income families and communities of color. The best recent example of the effects of this philosophy is the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. A callous, short-sighted attempt to cut government spending ended up poisoning Flint’s municipal water with lead. Because childhood lead poisoning permanently reduces academic achievement, cognitive ability, and future job performance, the austerity during the early 2010s will not only affect the health and wellbeing of Flint’s residents in the years to come, but it will almost certainly affect the future productivity of the Flint workforce and the prosperity of the Flint region. Sadly, the Flint water crisis is one of many examples of how excessive austerity falls hardest on communities of color.
At its core, a government’s fiscal policy reflects what—and who—society chooses to value. House Republican leaders are making the same kind of value judgments that government officials made for Flint, and these choices will have devastating consequences for today’s children—and tomorrow’s economy.
Remarkably, the House might fail to pass their budget this year due to opposition from representatives demanding even more severe and immediate cuts. And while these cuts are unlikely to become law this year due to opposition from President Barack Obama, the next president could support and implement this type of agenda.
This brief reviews the research on the importance of health at birth as it relates to future economic outcomes and explains why childhood health is vital for a strong economy. The brief then discusses the importance of environment, health care, and nutrition programs, and examines how the cuts in the House budget would undermine childhood health and the economy.
Some of the most important programs for childhood health are often seen only as consumption, government spending, or regulation—as opposed to investments in the nation’s future. A pro-growth budget would recognize that causing permanent damage to a generation of children is detrimental for the future economy and that investing in healthier children yields substantial economic benefits in the long term.
Health at birth
Increasingly, economists are finding that a child’s health at birth can have a strong causal impact on how productive a worker he or she becomes as an adult and whether he or she joins the labor force at all.
One common measure of newborn health—children’s weight at birth—is highly correlated with test scores. Several studies find a causal relationship between low birth weights and future outcomes by comparing siblings and even twins—finding that children with lower birth weights complete less school; have worse test scores; are more likely to use disability programs; and end up earning lower wages than children with higher birth weights. One study based on twin data suggests that a 10 percent increase in birth weight raises full-time earnings by about 1 percent, making it about as valuable on the labor market as an additional quarter year of education. Another twin study–which found that higher birth weights raise children’s test scores—implies that three-quarters of the increase in earnings is explained by increases in cognitive skills.
The mortality rate is obviously another important measure