From Angela's Ashes to the Celtic Tiger: Early Life Conditions and Adult Health in Ireland

Liam Delaney, Mark McGovern and James Smith

No 4548, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We use data from the Irish census and exploit regional and temporal variation in infant mortality rates over the 20th century to examine effects of early life conditions on later life health. Our main identification is public health interventions which eliminated the Irish urban infant mortality penalty. Estimates suggest that a unit decrease in mortality rates at time of birth reduces the probability of being disabled as an adult by between .03 and .05 percentage points. We find that individuals from lower socio economic groups had marginal effects of reduced infant mortality twice as large as those at the top.

Keywords: childhood health; disability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I19 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2009-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published - published in: Journal of Health Economics, 2011, 30 (1), 1-10

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Related works:
Journal Article: From Angela's ashes to the Celtic tiger: Early life conditions and adult health in Ireland (2011)
Working Paper: From Angela's Ashes to the Celtic Tiger: Early Life Conditions and Adult Health in Ireland (2009)
Working Paper: From Angela’s Ashes to the Celtic Tiger: early life conditions and adult health in Ireland (2009)
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