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Sins of the Fathers: The Intergenerational Legacy of the 1959-1961 Great Chinese Famine on Children's Cognitive Development

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  • Chih Ming Tan

    (Department of Economics, University of North Dakota, USA; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, Italy)

  • Zhibo Tan

    (School of Economics, Fudan University, China)

  • Xiaobo Zhang

    (China Center for Economic Research, Peking University, China; International Food Policy Research Institute, USA)

Abstract

The effect of early exposure to malnutrition on the next generation's cognitive abilities has rarely been studied in human beings in large part due to lack of data. A natural experiment, the Great Chinese Famine, and a novel dataset are employed to study this effect. The paper finds that the cognitive abilities of children born to rural famine fathers were affected and that the impact is more pronounced in girls than in boys, whereas children born to female survivors are not affected. The uncovered gender-specific effect is almost entirely attributable to son preference exhibited in families with male famine survivors.

Suggested Citation

  • Chih Ming Tan & Zhibo Tan & Xiaobo Zhang, 2015. "Sins of the Fathers: The Intergenerational Legacy of the 1959-1961 Great Chinese Famine on Children's Cognitive Development," Working Paper series 15-33, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    • Handle: RePEc:rim:rimwps:15-33
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    Cited by:

    1. Zichen Deng & Maarten Lindeboom, 2021. "Early-life Famine Exposure, Hunger Recall and Later-life Health," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-054/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Zichen Deng & Maarten Lindeboom, 2021. "Early-life Famine Exposure, Hunger Recall and Later-life Health," Papers 2021-04, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    3. Caruso, Germán & Miller, Sebastian, 2015. "Long run effects and intergenerational transmission of natural disasters: A case study on the 1970 Ancash Earthquake," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 134-150.
    4. Deng, Zichen & Lindeboom, Maarten, 2021. "Early-Life Famine Exposure, Hunger Recall and Later-Life Health," IZA Discussion Papers 14487, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2016. "“The Last, the Most Dreadful Resource of Nature”: Economic-Historical Reflections on Famine," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 44(2), pages 225-241, June.
    6. Wang, Jun & Yang, Juan & Li, Bo, 2017. "Pain of disasters: The educational cost of exogenous shocks evidence from Tangshan Earthquake in 1976," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 27-49.
    7. Xu, Hongwei & Li, Lydia & Zhang, Zhenmei & Liu, Jinyu, 2016. "Is natural experiment a cure? Re-examining the long-term health effects of China's 1959–1961 famine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 110-122.
    8. Han Zhang & Wing Chung Ho, 2022. "The Long-Term Effect of Famine Exposure on Cognitive Performance: Evidence from the 1959–1961 Chinese Famine," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-14, December.
    9. Yao, Yuxin & Zhang, Yi, 2023. "The long-term and intergenerational effects of early-life hunger experience on human capital and labor market outcomes," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Chih Ming Tan & Xiao Wang & Xiaobo Zhang, 2024. "It's all in the stars: The Chinese zodiac and the effects of parental investments on offspring's cognitive and noncognitive skill development," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(3), pages 877-920, July.
    11. Seonghoon Kim & Belton Fleisher & Jessica Ya Sun, 2017. "The Long‐term Health Effects of Fetal Malnutrition: Evidence from the 1959–1961 China Great Leap Forward Famine," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(10), pages 1264-1277, October.
    12. Adnan M. S. Fakir, 2016. "Revisiting the child health-wealth nexus," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, December.
    13. Zhang, Zihan & Kim, Jun Hyung, 2023. "The Inheritance of Historical Trauma: Intergenerational Effects of Early-Life Exposure to Famine on Mental Health," IZA Discussion Papers 16385, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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