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Childhood economic conditions and length of life: Evidence from the UK Boyd Orr cohort, 1937-2005

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  • Frijters, Paul
  • Hatton, Timothy J.
  • Martin, Richard M.
  • Shields, Michael A.

Abstract

We study the importance of childhood socioeconomic conditions in predicting differences in life expectancy using data from a large sample of children collected in 16 locations in England and Scotland in 1937-39, who have been traced through official death records up to 2005. We estimate a number of duration of life models that control for unobserved family heterogeneity. Our results confirm that childhood conditions such as household income and the quality of the home environment are significant predictors of longevity. Importantly, however, the role of socioeconomic status appears to differ across cause of death, with household income being a significant predictor of death from smoking-related cancer. Moreover, we find that (1) poor housing conditions in childhood is associated with reduced longevity, that (2) early doctor-assessed childhood health conditions significantly predict a reduced length of life, that (3) children born in a location with relatively high infant mortality rates live significantly fewer years, and that (4) there is a high correlation in longevity across children from the same family across all causes of death. We estimate that the difference in life expectancy between those with the 'best' and 'worst' observable characteristics is about 9 years, which increases to 20 years when we take into account the 'best' and 'worst' observable and unobservable household characteristics.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Health Economics.

Volume (Year): 29 (2010)
Issue (Month): 1 (January)
Pages: 39-47
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Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:29:y:2010:i:1:p:39-47

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Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505560

For corrections or technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Jeroen Loos).

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Keywords: Childhood Socioeconomic characteristics Length of life Duration models;

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References

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  1. Booth, Alison L & Kee, Hiau Joo, 2006. "Birth Order Matters: The Effect of Family Size and Birth Order on Educational Attainment," CEPR Discussion Papers 5453, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  2. Case, Anne & Fertig, Angela & Paxson, Christina, 2005. "The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 365-389, March.
  3. Carlos Bozzoli & Angus Deaton & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2007. "Child mortality, income and adult height," Working Papers 230, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
  4. Bailey, Roy E & Hatton, Timothy J., 1999. "Seebohm Rowntree and the Post-War Poverty Puzzle," CEPR Discussion Papers 2147, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Childhood Economic Conditions and Length of Life - Evidence from Boyd-Orr Cohort
    by Liam Delaney in Geary Behaviour Centre on 2010-08-10 21:51:00
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
Cited by:
  1. Martine Mariotti, 2012. "Living Standards In South Africa's Former Homelands," CEH Discussion Papers 003, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
  2. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Shields, Michael A., 2011. "Destined for (Un)Happiness: Does Childhood Predict Adult Life Satisfaction?," IZA Discussion Papers 5819, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Owen Thompson, 2011. "Racial Disparities in the Cognition-Health Relationship," Working Papers 2011-02, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.

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