Neonatal mortality and the economy revisited.

The association between economic contraction and neonatal mortality previously reported in this Journal is retested using methods and data that respond to criticisms of aggregate time-series work. Results suggest that the risk of neonatal mortality among birth cohorts of black males in the Los Angeles County and Orange County metropolitan areas is increased by unexpectedly low levels of employment in the second trimester. The argument is made that the strength of the effect is probably not sufficient to make the case for stimulating regional economies more compelling.