Early Life Shocks Research Articles

Individual Behaviour as a Pathway Between Early-Life Shocks and Adult Health: Evidence from Hunger Episodes in Post-War Germany

We investigate long-run effects of episodes of hunger experienced as a child on health status and behavioral outcomes in later life. We combine self-reported data on hunger experiences from SHARELIFE, a retrospective survey conducted as part of SHARE in Europe in 2009, with administrative data on food supply (caloric rations) in post-war Germany. The data suggest that individual behavior is a pathway between early life shocks and adult health: We find that those who experienced hunger spend a larger fraction of income on food. Taken together, our results confirm that in addition to the well-documented biological channel from early life circumstances to adult health, there is also a behavioral pathway.

Impact of Early Life Shocks on Human Capital Formation: El NiiiO Floods in Ecuador

A growing body of research argues that early adverse experiences have lasting effects not only on later health outcomes, but also on human capital accumulation. This paper investigates the persistent effect of negative shocks early in life on children's health and cognitive outcomes, and explores whether shocks at certain periods matter more than others. The paper exploits the geographic intensity of extreme floods during the 1997-1998 El Nino phenomenon in Ecuador as a source of exogenous variation in children's exposure to a negative shock at different periods early in life. It is shown that children exposed to severe floods in utero, especially during the third trimester, are shorter in stature five and seven years later. Also, children affected by the floods in the first trimester of pregnancy score lower on cognitive tests. Potential mechanisms are explored by studying how exposure to the El Nino shock affected key inputs to the production of children's human capital: birth weight and family inputs (income, consumption, and breastfeeding). Children exposed to El Nino floods, especially during the third trimester in utero, were more likely to be born with low birth weight. Furthermore, households affected by El Nino 1997-98 suffered a decline in income, total consumption, and food consumption in the aftermath of the shock. Moreover, exposure to El Nino floods decreased the duration of exclusive breastfeeding and increased the duration of non-exclusive breastfeeding. Falsification exercises suggest that selection concerns such as selective fertility, mobility, and infant mortality do not drive these results.

Individual Behavior as a Pathway between Early-Life Shocks and Adult Health: Evidence from Hunger Episodes in Post-War Germany

We investigate long-run effects of episodes of hunger experienced as a child on health status and behavioral outcomes in later life. We combine self-reported data on hunger experiences from SHARELIFE, a retrospective survey conducted as part of SHARE in Europe in 2009, with administrative data on food supply (caloric rations) in post-war Germany. The data suggest that individual behavior is a pathway between early life shocks and adult health: We find that those who experienced hunger spend a larger fraction of income on food. Taken together, our results confirm that in addition to the well-documented biological channel from early life circumstances to adult health, there is also a behavioral pathway.

Individual Behavior as a Pathway between Early-Life Shocks and Adult Health: Evidence from Hunger Episodes in Post-War Germany

Individual Behavior as a Pathway between Early-Life Shocks and Adult Health: Evidence from Hunger Episodes in Post-War Germany