IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jhecon/v91y2023ics0167629623000735.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Overweight grandsons and grandfathers’ starvation exposure

Author

Listed:
  • Costa, Dora L.

Abstract

Much of the increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity has been in developing countries with a history of famines and malnutrition. This paper is the first to examine overweight among adult grandsons of grandfathers exposed to starvation during developmental ages. I study grandsons born to grandfathers who served in the Union Army during the US Civil War (1861-5) where some grandfathers experienced severe net malnutrition because they suffered a harsh POW experience. I find that male-line but not female-line grandsons of grandfathers who survived a severe captivity during their growing years faced a 21% increase in mean overweight and a 2% increase in mean BMI compared to grandsons of non-POWs. Male-line grandsons descended from grandfathers who experienced a harsh captivity faced a 22%–28% greater risk of dying every year after age 45 relative to grandsons descended from non-POWs, with overweight accounting for 9%–14% of the excess risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Costa, Dora L., 2023. "Overweight grandsons and grandfathers’ starvation exposure," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:91:y:2023:i:c:s0167629623000735
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2023.102796
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629623000735
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2023.102796?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. van den Berg, Gerard J. & Pinger, Pia R., 2016. "Transgenerational effects of childhood conditions on third generation health and education outcomes," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 103-120.
    2. van den Berg, Gerard J. & von Hinke, Stephanie & Wang, R. Adele H., 2022. "Prenatal Sugar Consumption and Late-Life Human Capital and Health: Analyses Based on Postwar Rationing and Polygenic Scores," IZA Discussion Papers 15544, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2007. "Surviving Andersonville: The Benefits of Social Networks in POW Camps," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1467-1487, September.
    4. Baker, Samuel & Biroli, Pietro & van Kippersluis, Hans & von Hinke, Stephanie, 2022. "Beyond Barker: Infant Mortality at Birth and Ischaemic Heart Disease in Older Age," IZA Discussion Papers 15291, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Conti, Gabriella & Lumey, L.H. & , & Ekamper, Peter & Poupakis, Stavros, 2021. "Severe Prenatal Shocks and Adolescent Health: Evidence from the Dutch Hunger Winter," CEPR Discussion Papers 16633, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Lakdawalla, Darius & Philipson, Tomas, 2009. "The growth of obesity and technological change," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 283-293, December.
    7. Denny Vågerö & Agneta Cederström & Gerard J. Berg, 2022. "Food abundance in men before puberty predicts a range of cancers in grandsons," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    8. Janet Currie & Tom Vogl, 2013. "Early-Life Health and Adult Circumstance in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 1-36, May.
    9. Dora L. Costa, 2015. "Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(3), pages 503-570, September.
    10. C. Justin Cook & Jason M. Fletcher & Angela Forgues, 2019. "Multigenerational Effects of Early-Life Health Shocks," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(5), pages 1855-1874, October.
    11. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2003. "Why Have Americans Become More Obese?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 93-118, Summer.
    12. Tomas Philipson, 2001. "The world‐wide growth in obesity: an economic research agenda," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(1), pages 1-7, January.
    13. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2008. "Heroes and Cowards: The Social Face of War," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number cost08-1, July.
    14. Cawley, John & Meyerhoefer, Chad, 2012. "The medical care costs of obesity: An instrumental variables approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 219-230.
    15. Dora Costa, 2021. "Health Shocks of the Father and Longevity of the Children's Children," NBER Working Papers 29553, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Dora Costa, 2012. "Scarring and Mortality Selection Among Civil War POWs: A Long-Term Mortality, Morbidity, and Socioeconomic Follow-Up," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(4), pages 1185-1206, November.
    17. Sven Wilson & Clayne L. Pope, 2003. "The Height of Union Army Recruits. Family and Community Influences," NBER Chapters, in: Health and Labor Force Participation over the Life Cycle: Evidence from the Past, pages 113-146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Dora L. Costa & Noelle Yetter & Heather DeSomer, 2018. "Intergenerational transmission of paternal trauma among US Civil War ex-POWs," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115(44), pages 11215-11220, October.
    19. Denny Vågerö & Pia R. Pinger & Vanda Aronsson & Gerard J. van den Berg, 2018. "Paternal grandfather’s access to food predicts all-cause and cancer mortality in grandsons," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
    20. Gruber, Jonathan & Kubik, Jeffrey D., 1997. "Disability insurance rejection rates and the labor supply of older workers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 1-23, April.
    21. Costa, Dora L., 1996. "Health and Labor Force Participation of Older Men, 1900–1991," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 62-89, March.
    22. Strauss, John & Thomas, Duncan, 2008. "Health over the Life Course," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 54, pages 3375-3474, Elsevier.
    23. Jielin Zhou & Liangjian Zhang & Peng Xuan & Yong Fan & Linsheng Yang & Chunqiu Hu & Qingli Bo & Guoxiu Wang & Jie Sheng & Sufang Wang, 2018. "The relationship between famine exposure during early life and body mass index in adulthood: A systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dora Costa, 2022. "Overweight Grandsons and Grandfathers' Starvation Exposure," NBER Working Papers 30599, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Dora Costa, 2021. "Health Shocks of the Father and Longevity of the Children's Children," NBER Working Papers 29553, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Dora L. Costa & Heather DeSomer & Eric Hanss & Christopher Roudiez & Sven E. Wilson & Noelle Yetter, 2017. "Union Army veterans, all grown up," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 79-95, April.
    4. Costa-Font, Joan & Mas, Núria, 2016. "‘Globesity’? The effects of globalization on obesity and caloric intake," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 121-132.
    5. Daouli, Joan & Davillas, Apostolos & Demoussis, Michael & Giannakopoulos, Nicholas, 2014. "Obesity persistence and duration dependence: Evidence from a cohort of US adults (1985–2010)," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 30-44.
    6. Duncan, Roberto & Toledo, Patricia, 2019. "Inequality in body mass indices across countries: Evidence from convergence tests," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 40-57.
    7. Gomis-Porqueras, Pedro & Moslehi, Solmaz & Suen, Richard M.H., 2016. "The role of dietary choices and medical expenditures on health outcomes when health shocks are endogenous," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 13-25.
    8. Banterle, Alessandro & Cavaliere, Alessia, 2014. "Is there a relationship between product attributes, nutrition labels and excess weight? Evidence from an Italian region," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 241-249.
    9. Cawley, John, 2015. "An economy of scales: A selective review of obesity's economic causes, consequences, and solutions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 244-268.
    10. Sriparna Ghosh & Joshua C. Hall, 2018. "The Political Economy of Soda Taxation," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(2), pages 1045-1051.
    11. Goryakin, Yevgeniy & Suhrcke, Marc, 2014. "Economic development, urbanization, technological change and overweight: What do we learn from 244 Demographic and Health Surveys?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 109-127.
    12. Inas Kelly & Dhaval Dave & Jody Sindelar & William Gallo, 2014. "The impact of early occupational choice on health behaviors," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 737-770, December.
    13. Wanchuan Lin & Kathryn McEvilly & Juan Pantano, 2016. "Obesity and sex ratios in the U.S," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 269-292, June.
    14. Dragone, D. & Ziebarth, N.R., 2015. "Non-Separable Time Preferences and Novelty Consumption: Theory and Evidence from the East German Transition to Capitalism," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 15/28, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Arthi, Vellore & Parman, John, 2021. "Disease, downturns, and wellbeing: Economic history and the long-run impacts of COVID-19," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Cavaco, Sandra & Eriksson, Tor & Skalli, Ali, 2014. "Life cycle development of obesity and its determinants in six European countries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 62-78.
    17. Sari, Emre & Moilanen, Mikko & Sommerseth, Hilde Leikny, 2021. "Transgenerational health effects of in utero exposure to economic hardship: Evidence from preindustrial Southern Norway," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    18. Daouli, Joan & Davillas, Apostolos & Demoussis, Michael & Giannakopoulos, Nicholas, 2013. "The determinants of body mass in Greece: Evidence from the National Health Survey," MPRA Paper 66392, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Price, Joseph & Swigert, Jeffrey, 2012. "Within-family variation in obesity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 333-339.
    20. Pieroni, L. & Salmasi, L., 2014. "Fast-food consumption and body weight. Evidence from the UK," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 94-105.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health production; Multigenerational transmission of health; Overweight;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:91:y:2023:i:c:s0167629623000735. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505560 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.