What doesn’t kill her, will make her depressed

Yanan Li and Naveen Sunder

Economics & Human Biology, 2021, vol. 43, issue C

Abstract: In this paper we study the long run effects of the 1959–61 Chinese Famine on mental health outcomes. We focus on cohorts that were born during the famine and examine their mental health as adults, when they are roughly 55 years of age. We find that early-life exposure to this famine leads to a large statistically significant negative impact on women’s mental health, while there is limited effect on men. This gender differential effect is observed because male fetuses experience a stronger natural selection as compared to female fetuses, which implies that in the longer run, surviving females may exhibit larger detrimental effects of early-life famine exposure. Thus, the observed effects are a composite of two well-established factors, the survival of the fittest and the Fetal Origins hypothesis.

Keywords: Famine; Difference-in-differences; Mental health; Fertility; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I12 I31 J13 N35 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:43:y:2021:i:c:s1570677x21000897

DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2021.101064

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