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Intergenerational Persistence in Child Mortality

Author

Listed:
  • Frances Lu
  • Tom Vogl

Abstract

We study the intergenerational persistence of inequality by estimating grandmother-mother associations in the loss of a child, using pooled data from 119 Demographic and Health Surveys in 44 developing countries. Compared with compatriots of the same age, women with at least one sibling who died in childhood face 39 percent higher odds of having experienced at least one own-child death, or 7 percentage points at age 49. Place fixed effects reduce estimated mortality persistence by 47 percent; socioeconomic covariates explain far less. Within countries over time, persistence falls with aggregate child mortality, so that mortality decline disproportionately benefits high-mortality lineages.

Suggested Citation

  • Frances Lu & Tom Vogl, 2023. "Intergenerational Persistence in Child Mortality," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 93-110, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aerins:v:5:y:2023:i:1:p:93-110
    DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20210604
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    Cited by:

    1. Ahsan, Md. Nazmul & Emran, M. Shahe & Jiang, Hanchen & Shilpi, Forhad, 2025. "Making the most of coresident data: Credible evidence on intergenerational mobility with sibling correlation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    2. Bruno Masquelier & Ashira Menashe-Oren & Benjamin-Samuel Schlüter & Atoumane Fall & Stéphane Helleringer, 2024. "Improving old-age mortality estimation with parental survival histories in surveys," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 51(45), pages 1429-1470.
    3. Pablo Celhay & Sebastian Gallegos, 2025. "Schooling mobility across three generations in six Latin American countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-35, March.
    4. Giorgio Chiovelli & Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou & Tanner Regan, 2025. "Illuminating the Global South," Documentos de Trabajo/Working Papers 2507, Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales y Economia. Universidad de Montevideo..

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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