This paper presents new evidence on the relationship between infant mortality at the year of birth and adult stature using regional data for five cohorts in Spain, born between 1969 and 1986, a period of significant economic and social transformation. Consistent with previous studies, we find that there is a strong negative correlation between infant mortality and adult height, even after controlling for: secular changes affecting both infant mortality and adult height, constant differences across regions, and economic conditions at birth. Interestingly, we do not find a role for either GDP per capita or income inequality in the year of birth in explaining average cohort height after accounting for infant mortality in the year of birth. Disease, not income, appears to have been the constraining factor in Spain, at least after 1969. The burden of disease in childhood can have long-lasting effects on health, reflected in differences in adult stature. Our results resonate on recent empirical findings for developed and developing countries, and suggest that the epidemiological transition in the 20 years leading to Spain’s entry into European Union led to subsequent improvements in adult height.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by FEDEA in its series Working Papers with number
2009-27.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: