How much does a dramatic increase in technology improve healthcare quality in an upper middle-income country? Using rich vital statistics on infant health outcomes, this study evaluates the effect of introducing technologically advanced perinatal hospitals in 24 regions of Russia on infant mortality during the period 2009–2013. A 7-year aggregate panel dataset reveals that opening a perinatal centre corresponds to infant mortality reduction by 3.8 percent from the baseline rate, neonatal (0–28 day) mortality by 7 percent and early neonatal (0–6 day) mortality by 7.3 percent. We find that the perinatal centres help to save 263 additional infant lives annually, ranging from 3 to 25 lives in regions with different birth rates. However, we further find that an average cost per life saved is 52 million rb (or 2.6 million 2014 PPP USD), which is much higher than the cost of similar interventions in the United States.
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† We thank Dmitry Nikolaevich Degtyarev, Joseph Doyle, John Komlos, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Kvasha, Daria Pelech, Klara Sabirianova Peter, Frank Sloan, Susan Steiner, Christopher Timmins, Maximo Torero, Tanner Regan, Giuseppe Rossitti, Guzel Ernstovna Ulumbekova and the participants of the LSE Spatial Economics Research Center Conference and two anonymous referees for helpful comments and feedback. All errors of fact and interpretation are our own.
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