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May 14, 2015 The Consequences of Manipulating a Baby’s Birth Date for Tax Reasons U.S. tax incentives encourage significant numbers of parents to use cesarean surgeries and other medical methods to shift expected January births to December in order to reap additional deductions, say Lisa Schulkind of Trinity College and Teny Maghakian Shapiro of Santa Clara University. But even small decreases in gestation time can have long-term effects. Each additional $1,000 in child-related tax benefits increases babies' likelihood of being "low birthweight" by about 1%, and low birthweight is associated with lower IQ, lower standardized test scores, lower average height, and lower earnings, the researchers say. SOURCE: What a difference a day makes: Quantifying the effects of birth timing manipulation on infant health

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