The transmission of health across 7 generations in China, 1789–1906

Maystadt, Jean-François;Migali, Giuseppe
(2021) Journal of Health Economics — Vol. 79, p. 102493 (2021)

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Abstract
We study the intergenerational transmission of health using registered data from China between 1789 and 1906. We first document the intergenerational correlations in lifespans, and we find much higher correlations for mothers, compared to fathers. We then compare children born from brother and twin fathers, and the intergenerational transmission from fathers becomes weaker and is likely to be mostly driven by genetic factors. On the contrary, our results suggest a strong role of women in affecting their children’s health outcomes across generations in developing countries.
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Maystadt, J.-F., & Migali, G. (2021). The transmission of health across 7 generations in China, 1789–1906. Journal of Health Economics, 79, 102493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102493 (Original work published 2021)