Birth Weight in the Long Run

46 Pages Posted: 13 Jul 2015 Last revised: 8 May 2022

See all articles by Prashant Bharadwaj

Prashant Bharadwaj

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Department of Economics

Petter Lundborg

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

Dan-Olof Rooth

University of Kalmar; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Date Written: July 2015

Abstract

We study the effect of birth weight on long-run outcomes, including permanent income, income across various stages of the lifecycle, education, social benefits take-up, and adult mortality. For this purpose, we have linked a unique dataset on nearly all Swedish twins born between 1926- 1958, containing information on birth weight, to administrative records spanning nearly entire life time lab or market histories. We find that birth weight positively affects permanent income and income across large parts of the life cycle, although there is some evidence of a fade out after age 50. Our results indicate that lower birth weight children are more likely to avail of social insurance programs such as unemployment and sickness insurance and that birth weight matters for adult mortality. We supplement our main analysis with more recent data, which enables us to study how the impact of birth weight on income and education of young adults has changed across cohorts born almost 50 years apart.

Suggested Citation

Bharadwaj, Prashant and Lundborg, Petter and Lundborg, Petter and Rooth, Dan-Olof, Birth Weight in the Long Run (July 2015). NBER Working Paper No. w21354, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2629961

Prashant Bharadwaj (Contact Author)

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Department of Economics ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0508
United States

Petter Lundborg

Tinbergen Institute ( email )

Burg. Oudlaan 50
Rotterdam, 3062 PA
Netherlands

Lund University School of Economics and Management ( email )

P.O Box 7080
Lund
Sweden

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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

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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