Childhood adversity and energy poverty

Zhiming Cheng, Liwen Guo, Russell Smyth and Max Tani

Energy Economics, 2022, vol. 111, issue C

Abstract: The literature on the antecedents of energy poverty does not consider the potential role of early life experiences. This study fills this gap in the literature by providing causal evidence that early life experiences have a direct effect on subsequent energy poverty status. Using data from China Family Panel Studies, we analyze whether being a child or adolescent in the Great Chinese Famine raises the likelihood of being in energy poverty in adulthood. We find that, conditional on surviving, a one unit increase in the intensity of the Famine, measured by the number of excess deaths per 100 people, leads to a 1.2–1.6 percentage points decline in the probability of being in energy poverty in adulthood, depending on the exact specification and measure of energy poverty. We also find that personal income is a channel through which being a child or adolescent during the Great Famine affects the proclivity to be in energy poverty later in life. These findings are robust to alternative ways of measuring childhood adversity and energy poverty and suggest that resilience is an unobserved strength that carries meaningful economic consequences.

Keywords: Childhood adversity; Energy poverty; China; The great Chinese famine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I32 J13 Q41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Working Paper: Childhood Adversity and Energy Poverty (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:111:y:2022:i:c:s0140988322002626

DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2022.106101

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