Early Life Health and Adult Earnings: Evidence from a Large Sample of Siblings and Twins

38 Pages Posted: 4 Jul 2011

See all articles by Petter Lundborg

Petter Lundborg

Tinbergen Institute; Lund University School of Economics and Management; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Anton Nilsson

Aarhus University

Dan-Olof Rooth

University of Kalmar; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

We study the relationship between early life health and adult earnings using a unique dataset that covers almost the entire population of Swedish males born between 1950 and 1970. The health information is obtained from medical examinations during the mandatory military enlistment tests at age 18, which we have further linked to register data on adult earnings. We find that most types of major diagnoses have long-run effects on future earnings with the largest effects resulting from mental conditions. Including sibling fixed effects or twin-pair fixed effects reduces the magnitudes of the estimates, although remaining substantial.

Keywords: earnings, health, specific conditions, siblings, twins

JEL Classification: I1, J24, J31

Suggested Citation

Lundborg, Petter and Lundborg, Petter and Nilsson, Anton and Rooth, Dan-Olof, Early Life Health and Adult Earnings: Evidence from a Large Sample of Siblings and Twins. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5804, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1877617 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1877617

Petter Lundborg (Contact Author)

Lund University School of Economics and Management ( email )

P.O Box 7080
Lund
Sweden

Tinbergen Institute ( email )

Burg. Oudlaan 50
Rotterdam, 3062 PA
Netherlands

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Anton Nilsson

Aarhus University ( email )

Nordre Ringgade 1
DK-8000 Aarhus C, 8000
Denmark

Dan-Olof Rooth

University of Kalmar ( email )

Sweden

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7 / 9
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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