Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/106181 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 709
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
This paper examines the extent to which pre-puberty nutritional conditions in one generation affect productivity-related outcomes in later generations. Recent findings from the biological literature suggest that age 8-12 is a critical period for male germ cell development. We build on this evidence and investigate whether undernutrition at that age biologically transmits to children and grandchildren. Our findings indicate that third generation males (females) tend to have higher mental health scores if their paternal grandfather (maternal grandmother) was exposed to a famine during preadolescence. These effects seem to result from a biological shock and are not driven by social processes.
Subjects: 
famine
transgenerational transmission
epigenetics
mental health
education
long-run effects
nutrition
intergenerational effects
slow-growth period
JEL: 
I12
J11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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