title: Inequality in individual mortality and economic conditions earlier in life.
abstract: We analyze the effect of being born in a recession on the mortality rate later in life in conjunction with social class. We use individual data records from Dutch registers of birth, marriage, and death certificates, covering the period 1815-2000, and we merge these with historical data on macro-economic outcomes and health indicators. We estimate duration models and inequality measures. The results indicate that being born in a recession increases the mortality rate later in life for most of the population. Lower social classes suffer disproportionally from being born in recessions. This exacerbates mortality inequality. Upward mobility does not vary much with the business cycle at birth.
authors.affiliation: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands. gberg@feweb.vu.nl
authors.forename: Gerard J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lindeboom
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lopez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D057172:Economic Recession; D004467:Economics; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017059:Models, Econometric; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult