Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/331376 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
CEBI Working Paper Series No. 10/25
Publisher: 
University of Copenhagen, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI), Copenhagen
Abstract: 
Preschool-aged children get sick frequently and spread disease to other family members. Despite the universality of this experience, there is limited causal evidence on the magnitudes and consequences of these externalities, especially for infant siblings with developing immune systems and brains. We use Danish administrative data to document that, before age one, younger siblings have 2-3 times higher hospitalization rates for respiratory conditions than older siblings. We combine birth order and within-municipality variation in respiratory disease prevalence among young children, and find lasting differential impacts of early-life respiratory disease exposure on younger siblings' earnings, educational attainment, chronic respiratory health and mental health-related outcomes.
Subjects: 
Children
Early-life conditions
Human capital
Earnings
Birth order
Infectious disease
JEL: 
I12
I18
J12
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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