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Heterogeneity in the long term health effects of warfare

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  • Akbulut-Yuksel, Mevlude
  • Yuksel, Mutlu

Abstract

This paper estimates the long-term heterogeneous legacies of exposures to war in utero and during early childhood on height in adulthood. Using a novel dataset on the regional WWII destruction in Germany, combined with the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we find that individuals who experienced warfare in utero and during childhood are an average of 2cm shorter as adults, suggesting that the negative scarring effect of WWII dominated the positive effect coming from a selection. Among war survivors, children from less privileged families who resided in highly destroyed regions, particularly girls, suffered the greatest health consequences of warfare. Our analyses also show that wartime children who lost their parents during the war years are an average of 1.3cm shorter as adults. However, the father’s conscription during WWII had no long-term effect on adult height.

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  • Akbulut-Yuksel, Mevlude & Yuksel, Mutlu, 2017. "Heterogeneity in the long term health effects of warfare," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 27(PA), pages 126-136.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:27:y:2017:i:pa:p:126-136
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2017.05.007
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    2. Hansoo Ko, 2021. "Child health impact of the Nepalese civil war," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 694-711, May.
    3. Timothy J. Halliday & Bhashkar Mazumder & Ashley Wong, 2020. "The intergenerational transmission of health in the United States: A latent variables analysis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 367-381, March.
    4. Lin, Chung-Liang, 2021. "Postpartum medical utilization: The role of prenatal economic activity and living costs," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    5. Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel & Zachary Zimmer & Sujita Pandey & Tran Khanh Toan, 2024. "Untold Story of Wartime Children: Results of the Vietnam Health and Aging Study," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(2), pages 1-24, April.
    6. Vuong, Vu & Chang, Simon & Palmer, Michael, 2021. "Bombing and the Two Vietnams," IZA Discussion Papers 14443, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Warfare; Height; Children;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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