ABSTRACT

Michael Grossman's health capital model holds that healthy time is an input to the production of human capital. Greater amounts of healthy time permit greater acquisition of skills and knowledge. In this model, health stock, during the investment period of childhood through early adulthood, is an important determinant of productive capacity during middle through late adulthood. The importance of the health of infants lies in the observation that the manner in which a life starts out significantly shapes how it continues. Infants who are born normal weight and full-term are more likely to survive their first year of life than are infants born low weight or pre-term. The health of Black infants in the US has been influenced by the event of slavery and the policies of the South. The migration out of the South in the 20th century simply spread ill health to other parts of the country.