Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics
No 770: Pre- and Post-Birth Components of Intergenerational Persistence in Health and Longevity: Lessons from a Large Sample of Adoptees
Evelina Björkegren, Mikael Lindahl (), Mårten Palme and Emilia Simeonova
Additional contact information
Evelina Björkegren: Department of Economics, Stockholm University
Mikael Lindahl: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 GÖTEBORG, Sweden
Mårten Palme: Department of Economics, Stockholm University
Emilia Simeonova: Johns Hopkins University
Abstract: We use data on a large sample of Swedish-born adoptees and their biological and adopting parents to decompose the persistence in health inequality across generations into pre-birth and post-birth components. We use three sets of measures for health outcomes in the second generation: mortality, measures based on data on hospitalization and, finally, measures using birth outcomes for the third generation. The results show that all of the persistence in mortality is transmitted solely via pre-birth factors, while the results for the hospitalization measures suggest that at least three quarters of the intergenerational persistence in health is attributable to the biological parents.
Keywords: Heath inequality; nature and nurture; intergenerational transmission
52 pages, June 2019
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