Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/207474 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12649
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Modern technology empowers human beings to cope with various extreme weather events. Using Chinese historical data, we examine the impact of extreme weather on long-term human health in an environment where individuals have no access to modern technology. By combining life course data on 5,000 Chinese elites with historical weather data over the period 1-1840 AD, we find a significant and robust negative impact of droughts in childhood on the longevity of elites. Quantitatively, encountering three years of droughts in childhood reduces an elite's life span by about two years. A remarkably important channel of the childhood drought effect is the deterioration of economic conditions caused by droughts.
Subjects: 
longevity
weather
early-life conditions
elites
history of China
JEL: 
I15
N35
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
675.07 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.