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Early Life Circumstance and Mental Health in Ghana

Author

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  • Achyuta Adhvaryu
  • James Fenske
  • Anant Nyshadham

Abstract

We study the origins of adult mental health using early life income fluctuations. Combining a time series of real producer prices of cocoa with a nationally representative household survey in Ghana, we show that a one standard deviation rise in the cocoa price in early life decreases the likelihood of severe mental distress in adulthood by 3 percentage points (or half the mean prevalence) for cohorts born in cocoa-producing regions relative to other regions. Impacts on related personality traits are consistent with this result. Maternal nutrition, reinforcing childhood investments, and adult circumstance are operative channels of impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Achyuta Adhvaryu & James Fenske & Anant Nyshadham, 2014. "Early Life Circumstance and Mental Health in Ghana," CSAE Working Paper Series 2014-03, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2014-03
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    File URL: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f7b5d920-28bc-40b8-a257-3b28b5041a9d
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Abhishek Chakravarty & Matthias Parey & Greg C Wright, 2021. "The Human Capital Legacy of a Trade Embargo," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 1692-1733.
    3. Olukorede Abiona, 2017. "Adverse Effects of Early Life Extreme Precipitation Shocks on Short-term Health and Adulthood Welfare Outcomes," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1229-1254, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    early life; mental health; endowments; commodity prices; Ghana;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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