Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/45712 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2011:5
Publisher: 
Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation (IFAU), Uppsala
Abstract: 
We identify the ages that constitute critical periods in children's development towards their adult health status. For this we use data on families migrating into Sweden from countries that are poorer, with less healthy conditions. Long-run health is proxied by adult height. The relation between siblings' ages at migration and their heights after age 18 allows us to estimate the causal effect of conditions at certain ages on adult height. Moreover, we compare siblings born outside and within Sweden. We apply fixed-effect methods to a sample of about 9,000 brothers. We effectively exploit that for siblings the migration occurs simultaneously in calendar time but at different developmental stages (ages). We find some evidence for a critical period at age 9. The effects are stronger in families migrating from poorer countries but weaker if the mother is well-educated.
Subjects: 
early-life conditions
migration
parental education
adult health
height retardation
age
fetal programming
developmental origins
JEL: 
I10
I12
I18
F22
I20
I30
J10
N30
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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