{"title":"Race, immunity, and lifespan: Unraveling the effect of early-life exposure to malaria risk on lifespan","authors":"Sok Chul Hong , Inhyuk Hwang","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101382","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101382","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We investigate a historical experience to measure the long-term effect of malaria on lifespan among infected survivors and identify a factor that mitigates malaria’s effect. Using a sample of Union Army veterans born during the mid-19th century and their lifetime records, we show that exposure to high risk of malaria at birth or in early life substantially shortened their lifespan. The legacy of exposure to malaria is robust while controlling for lifetime socioeconomic and health conditions, fixed effects, and considering selection bias. Additionally, we include the US Colored Troops sample of black veterans to analyze racial differences in the effect of malaria exposure on lifespan. Exposure to malaria did not lead to a shorter lifespan among black veterans. Evidence suggests that genetic immunity to malaria in black veterans might contribute this heterogeneity.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"54 ","pages":"Article 101382"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140631555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Left-digit bias in self-reported height","authors":"Hyunkuk Cho","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101384","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Left-digit bias is a cognitive bias wherein individuals assess the magnitude of numbers by emphasizing the leftmost digit. For instance, people often perceive the difference between $9.99 and $10.00 larger than that between $10.00 and $10.01, given the distinct left digits in the former two numbers. This study associates self-reported height with this cognitive bias. Taller stature is frequently associated with desirable attributes such as higher earnings and leadership positions; individuals may aspire to be taller and, consequently, report a height greater than their actual measurement. We posit that this inclination is more pronounced when combined with left-digit bias. In other words, individuals whose actual height ends in nine, such as 169 cm, are more likely to report their height as 170 cm than individuals with an actual height of 170 cm who report it as 171 cm. To conduct this analysis, we used data from an annual health survey of adolescents in grades 7–12. Our findings indicate that male adolescents exhibit a left-digit bias in reporting their height, whereas female adolescents do not. We contribute to the literature by providing new evidence of left-digit bias.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"54 ","pages":"Article 101384"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140548376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond the brink: Unraveling the opioid crisis and its profound impacts","authors":"Xianhua Zai","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101379","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101379","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper examines the long-standing and severe public health crisis, the opioid epidemic in the United States, which has been worsening since the mid-1990s. In contrast to previous research, it investigates the broader impacts of this epidemic, particularly on family members and healthcare systems. Using a comprehensive dataset spanning from 1998 to 2010, the study analyzes opioid use at the three-digit ZIP code level, utilizing data from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and individual-level data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) in a two-way fixed effect model. The findings reveal significant negative effects on family caregivers, notably adult children, due to the opioid epidemic. Additionally, opioid exposure is associated with increased healthcare utilization, including home health care and hospital use. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the multifaceted consequences of the opioid epidemic.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"53 ","pages":"Article 101379"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X24000315/pdfft?md5=3745ea458446a4a1701c5693e6c5e188&pid=1-s2.0-S1570677X24000315-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140330794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Akbar Zamanzadeh , Tony Cavoli , Matina Ghasemi , Ladan Rokni
{"title":"The effect of actual and expected income shocks on mental wellbeing: Evidence from three East Asian countries during COVID-19","authors":"Akbar Zamanzadeh , Tony Cavoli , Matina Ghasemi , Ladan Rokni","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101378","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101378","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper evaluates the effects of economic shocks to current and expected income reduction on mental wellbeing. We use individual-level data from three East Asian countries; China, Japan, and South Korea, during the early phases of the pandemic when the COVID-induced economic shocks were severe. The findings reveal significant causal effects from current and expected income reduction on different aspects of mental health deterioration, including anxiety, trouble sleeping, boredom, and loneliness. Interestingly, we found that expectations of future income loss have a significantly larger effect on people's mental wellbeing compared to current falls in income. This has significant implications for the design of policies to support income during pandemics.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"53 ","pages":"Article 101378"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X24000303/pdfft?md5=1101641ade0b2087b36f82645641ded7&pid=1-s2.0-S1570677X24000303-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140407943","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gabriella Conti , Stavros Poupakis , Peter Ekamper , Govert E. Bijwaard , L.H. Lumey
{"title":"Severe prenatal shocks and adolescent health: Evidence from the Dutch Hunger Winter","authors":"Gabriella Conti , Stavros Poupakis , Peter Ekamper , Govert E. Bijwaard , L.H. Lumey","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101372","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101372","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper investigates health impacts at the end of adolescence of prenatal exposure to multiple shocks, by exploiting the unique natural experiment of the Dutch Hunger Winter. At the end of World War II, a famine occurred abruptly in the Western Netherlands (November 1944–May 1945), pushing the previously and subsequently well-nourished Dutch population to the brink of starvation. We link high-quality military recruits data with objective health measurements for the cohorts born in the years surrounding WWII with newly digitised historical records on calories and nutrient composition of the war rations, daily temperature, and warfare deaths. Using difference-in-differences and triple differences research designs, we first show that the cohorts exposed to the Dutch Hunger Winter since early gestation have a higher Body Mass Index and an increased probability of being obese at age 18. We then find that this effect is partly moderated by warfare exposure and a reduction in energy-adjusted protein intake. Lastly, we account for selective mortality using a copula-based approach and newly-digitised data on survival rates, and find evidence of both selection and scarring effects. These results emphasise the complexity of the mechanisms at play in studying the consequences of early conditions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"53 ","pages":"Article 101372"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X24000248/pdfft?md5=7ee5f907bcaf40b14b3f0ca354f2440e&pid=1-s2.0-S1570677X24000248-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140046033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The causal impact of fetal exposure to PM2.5 on birth outcomes: Evidence from rural China","authors":"Lyuxiu Li , Xin Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101380","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101380","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper investigates the causal impact of fetal exposure to PM2.5 on birth outcomes, including birth weight, the incidence of low birth weight (LBW), and small for gestational age (SGA), based on a nationally representative birth record dataset in a developing country setting. We employed thermal inversion as the instrument variable (IV) for PM2.5 and leveraged the distinctive characteristics of rural China in the 1990 s to address identification challenges. Our IV estimates indicate that higher fetal PM2.5 exposure leads to lower birth weight and elevated probabilities of LBW and SGA. Due to the mortality selection <em>in utero</em>, weak male fetuses were more likely to be screened out by PM2.5 exposure, resulting in a comparatively lower vulnerability among the surviving male infants. Furthermore, infants born to less educated mothers exhibited increased susceptibility, a phenomenon not entirely explained by the sorting behaviors associated with the preference for cleaner air based on socioeconomic status.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"53 ","pages":"Article 101380"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140327853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sylwia Bartowiak , Jan M. Konarski , Ryszard Strzelczyk , Robert M. Malina
{"title":"Secular change in heights of rural adults in west-central poland between 1986 and 2016: The transition from pre- to post-communism","authors":"Sylwia Bartowiak , Jan M. Konarski , Ryszard Strzelczyk , Robert M. Malina","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101377","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101377","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Secular change in the heights of adult men and women resident in ten rural communities in west-central Poland in four decennial surveys between 1986 and 2016 is considered. The adults were parents of children attending schools in rural communities in the province of Poznań. During each survey, parents of school children were asked to complete a questionnaire which requested their ages, heights and completed levels of education. Ages were reported in whole years. The self-reported heights were adjusted for the tendency of individuals to overestimate height. Height loss among of individuals 35+ years was estimated with sex-specific equations and was added to the adjusted heights. Secular gains in heights of adult males across the 30 year interval, and across the 1986–1996 and 2006–2016 surveys were, on average, larger than corresponding gains in heights of adult females; the sex difference between 1996 and 2006 surveys was negligible. When heights were regressed on year of birth, heights of males and females born before 1950 (prior to World War II and shortly after) showed minimal and non-significant secular changes, while heights of those born post-1950 showed larger and significant secular gains, more so in males than in females. The results highlight significant secular trends in the heights of rural adults over a 30-year interval. Consistent with other studies in Poland, the positive trends likely reflected political, educational and socio-economic changes and by inference improved nutritional and health conditions across generations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"53 ","pages":"Article 101377"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140296273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A comment on “Height and the standard of living in Puerto Rico from the Spanish Enlightenment to annexation by the United States, 1770–1924”","authors":"Brian Marein , John Devereux","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101376","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101376","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Using prisoner height data, Moreno-Lázaro (2023) claims that Puerto Rican living standards declined after US annexation and stagnated for decades. This conclusion is not supported by the prisoner data and is inconsistent with other welfare measures that show dramatic improvement, such as per capita GDP, life expectancy, and literacy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"53 ","pages":"Article 101376"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140276384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Education increases patience: Evidence from a change in a compulsory schooling law","authors":"Pınar Kunt Šimunović","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101375","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101375","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>I investigate the causal effect of education on time preferences. To deal with the endogeneity of education, I exploit exogenous variation in education imposed by a Turkish school reform that raised compulsory education from five to eight years. I find that education causes individuals to make more patient inter-temporal choices but does not induce them to report being more patient. I also provide evidence that the effect of education on patient inter-temporal choices does not operate through changes in financial well-being.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"53 ","pages":"Article 101375"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X24000273/pdfft?md5=9ebc2c032542f27c00feb04574a98bfb&pid=1-s2.0-S1570677X24000273-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140160642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unconditional cash transfers, health and savings","authors":"Sefa Awaworyi Churchill , Nasir Iqbal , Saima Nawaz , Siew Ling Yew","doi":"10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101373","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper examines the relationship between a national unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) program, health and savings. We theoretically and empirically show that motives to save can be strong when cash transfers promote health outcomes. We first present a theoretical model that considers lifecycle-consumption savings decisions, where households derive utility from consumption and leisure time at working age, as well as old-age consumption and old-age longevity that positively depend on health spending. We then empirically examine the impact of Pakistan’s Benazir Income Support Programme on various indicators of savings and provide suggestive evidence on how UCTs influence savings via health. We find that in the short and medium term, UCTs increase the probability that a household decides to save and have significant positive effects on the rates and amounts of household savings. The effects of UCTs are more pronounced on informal compared to formal savings. The results present exploratory and suggestive evidence that health is a mechanism through which UCTs transmit to savings. These findings are consistent with our theoretical predictions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50554,"journal":{"name":"Economics & Human Biology","volume":"53 ","pages":"Article 101373"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X2400025X/pdfft?md5=873729f7c43c30ec257c82bc07764e71&pid=1-s2.0-S1570677X2400025X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140209273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}