Abstract
This paper examines the extent to which pre-puberty nutritional conditions in one generation affect productivity-related outcomes in later generations. Recent findings from the biological literature suggest that the so-called slow growth period around age 9 is a sensitive period for male germ cell development. We build on this evidence and investigate whether undernutrition at those ages transmits to children and grandchildren. Our findings indicate that third generation males (females) tend to have higher mental health scores if their paternal grandfather (maternal grandmother) was exposed to a famine during the slow growth period. These effects appear to reflect biological responses to adaptive expectations about scarcity in the environment, and as such they can be seen as an economic correctional mechanism in evolution, with marked socio-economic implications for the offspring.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 103-120 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Economics and Human Biology |
| Volume | 23 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2016 |
Funding
We thank two anonymous Referees, the Editor Jörg Baten, Marcus Pembrey, Denny Vågerö, George Davey Smith, Jim Heckman, Anders Björklund, Timo Hener, Jean-Marc Robin, participants of an IZA Summer School, the Essen Health Conference 2014, and the Madrid Mobility Workshop 2016 for useful comments. A substantial part of this project was carried out while the authors were at the University of Mannheim. They thank the Humboldt Foundation for financial support. A previous version has circulated under the title “A Validation Study of Transgenerational Effects of Childhood Conditions on the Third Generation Offspring's Economic and Health Outcomes Potentially Driven by Epigenetic Imprinting”. Appendix A
Keywords
- Education
- Epigenetics
- Height
- Mental health
- Nutrition
