Health and Economic Activity Over the Lifecycle: Literature Review

Abstract

We systematically review the literature linking health to economic activity, particularly education and labor market outcomes, over the lifecycle. In the first part, we review studies that link childhood health to later-life outcomes. The main themes we focus on are in-utero exposures, birthweight, physical health and nutrition, mental health, and the environment. In the second part, we review studies of the impact of health on labor market success for adults. The main themes we focus on are the environment, disability, physical health shocks, within-household spillovers, cancer, and mental health.

Poverty, depression, and anxiety: Causal evidence and mechanisms

“…This suggests the possibility of particularly high economic returns from improving mental health among adolescents and young adults. Although longitudinal studies show a substantial correlation between mental illness among students and subsequent educational outcomes, there is little experimental evidence to date that treatment of depression or anxiety among adolescents leads to improved educational outcomes (99).…”

The Political Context and Infant Health in the United States

“…This study has examined the impact of the political context experienced prenatally on infant health in the United States. The indicators of infant health we examine provide the first observable measure of individual health and well-being (Behrman and Butler 2007; Conley et al 2003; Moster, Lie, and Markestad 2008; Prinz et al 2018). Our analysis extends pioneering research on the impact of the president’s party on infant mortality (Rodriguez 2019; Rodriguez et al 2014) by examining widely prevalent adverse birth outcomes that predict health and well-being over the entire life course.…”

“…The effect of Democratic presidents is substantial in terms of the population affected, resulting in thousands fewer preterm and small for gestational age births. Given the large costs of poor birth outcomes in the United States—both immediately after birth, over the individual life course, and even across generations (Almond, Chay, and Lee 2005; Almond and Currie 2011; Behrman and Rosenzweig 2004; Prinz et al 2018; Russell et al 2007)—these effects have implications spanning decades.…”

“…We focus on these birth outcomes because they are critical indicators of current and future population health and well-being. They are the main determinants of infant mortality, morbidity, and developmental difficulties, and they predict educational attainment and economic well-being over the entire life course (Alderman and Behrman 2006;Behrman and Rosenzweig 2004;Conley, Strully, and Bennett 2003;Prinz et al 2018). Furthermore, birth outcomes are sensitive to changes in public policies (Conley and Springer 2001;Muntaner et al 2011;Navarro and Shi 2001) and to environmental stressors experienced by the mother during the pregnancy (Dunkel Schetter 2011;Torche 2011).…”

Adverse Life Events and Intergenerational Transfers

“…Researchers have studied the effects of wealth loss, employment transitions, health shocks, and household structure changes on finances, labor supply, consumption, and health trajectories in older households. 1 Because of their ubiquity, health shocks in particular have been the subject of a substantial body of research (see Prinz et al (2018) for a recent summary). Recently, there has also been growing interest in understanding the effects of wealth loss and job displacement among older Americans, as research has shown that the wealth and employment trajectories of older households were substantially and permanently impacted by the severe downturns in the housing, financial, and labor markets that occurred during the Great Recession of [2007][2008][2009] (Munnell and Rutledge, 2013).…”