Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/99011 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8181
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper uses the 1918 influenza pandemic in Taiwan as a natural experiment to test whether in utero conditions affect long-run developmental outcomes. Combining several historical and current datasets, we find that cohorts in utero during the pandemic are shorter as child/teenagers, less educated, and more likely to have serious health problems, including kidney disease, circulatory, respiratory problems, and diabetes in old age, than other birth cohorts. Despite the possible positive selection on health from high infant mortality rates during this period (18 percent), our findings suggest a strong negative effect of in utero exposure to influenza.
Subjects: 
height
1918 influenza
fetal origins hypothesis
education
disease
mortality
JEL: 
I12
N35
I19
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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