Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/252186 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15062
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
A large body of research in economics and other disciplines considers the role of early-life circumstances in shaping later-life outcomes. The foetal origins hypothesis establishes that certain health conditions in later adulthood can be linked to in-utero development. In this paper, we contribute to the evidence on the foetal origins hypothesis by examining the later-life impact of a rubella outbreak that occurred in Ireland in 1956. Rubella is a contagious viral disease that displays mild symptoms and is generally inconsequential in childhood or adulthood. However, a rubella infection in early pregnancy poses a significant risk of damage to the foetus. Matching the outcomes of individuals born in 1955 to 1958 who are in the 2016 Irish Census to the county-level rubella incidence rate that was prevailing when respondents were in utero, we find that a 1% increase in the rubella incidence rate when in utero is associated with a 0.03% to 0.17% increase in the probability of having lower levels of educational attainment, being in poor health and having a disability in later life.
Subjects: 
in-utero
rubella
Ireland
later-life health
JEL: 
I10
I18
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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