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Intergenerational Persistence of Health in Indonesia: The Importance of Using Biomarkers

Author

Listed:
  • Halliday, Timothy

    (University of Hawaii at Manoa)

  • Mazumder, Bhashkar

    (UC Irvine and NBER)

  • Sinha, Kompal

    (Macquarie University)

  • Wang, Huixia

    (Hunan University)

Abstract

We examine health persistence between parents and their adult children in Indonesia using both subjective and objective health measures including biomarkers. Using Principal Components Analysis, we estimate the interegenerational persistence of the combination of these measures to be 0.30, providing some of the first estimates of the transmission of latent health for a middle income country. We also detect a highly significant second principal component suggesting that health has multiple dimensions. We find especially strong associations for biomarkers such as hemoglobin, the pulse rate and hypertension which have typically not been studied in prior intergenerational studies. Transmission is stronger from mothers, and to daughters. We find relatively little variation in intergenerational health transmission by family income or SES. However, we do find strong positive gradients between family SES and the pulse rate and obseity suggesting potential health pitfalls as low and middle income countries further develop. Our findings suggest a potentially important role for policies focused on maternal health in reducing the intergenerational transmission of health.

Suggested Citation

  • Halliday, Timothy & Mazumder, Bhashkar & Sinha, Kompal & Wang, Huixia, 2026. "Intergenerational Persistence of Health in Indonesia: The Importance of Using Biomarkers," IZA Discussion Papers 18365, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18365
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    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality

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