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Resilience to Economic Shocks and the Long Reach of Childhood Bullying

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  • Nattavudh Powdthavee

Abstract

This paper investigates whether people's ability to withstand and adapt to one of the most important economic shocks - job loss - is determined early on in childhood. Using nationally representative longitudinal data that tracks almost 3,000 children into adulthood, we show that the negative effect of unemployment on mental health and life satisfaction is almost four times larger for workers who had been bullied a lot in their early life. We also find zero adaptation to unemployment for these individuals over time. Although the results should be viewed as illustrative and more research is needed, their potential implications for economists and policy makers are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2012. "Resilience to Economic Shocks and the Long Reach of Childhood Bullying," CEP Discussion Papers dp1173, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1173
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Childhood's legacy
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2012-11-06 20:01:55

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Manzella, Julia, 2018. "Are states winning the fight? Evidence on the impact of state laws on bullying in schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 261-281.
    2. McDool, Emily & Powell, Philip & Roberts, Jennifer & Taylor, Karl, 2016. "Social Media Use and Children's Wellbeing," IZA Discussion Papers 10412, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. McKay, Andy & Newell, Andrew T. & Rienzo, Cinzia, 2018. "Job Satisfaction among Young Workers in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Comparative Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 11380, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Blanchflower, David G. & Bryson, Alex, 2024. "The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 345(C).
    5. Richard Dorsett & Cinzia Rienzo & Martin Weale, 2015. "Intergenerational and Inter-Ethnic Well-Being: An Analysis for the UK," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 451, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    6. Powdthavee, Nattavudh & Vernoit, James, 2013. "Parental unemployment and children's happiness: A longitudinal study of young people's well-being in unemployed households," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 253-263.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Resilience; adaptation; happiness; unemployment; childhood; well-being;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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