Working Paper: NBER ID: w16584
Authors: Dora L. Costa
Abstract: Debilitating events could leave either frailer or more robust survivors, depending on the extent of scarring and mortality selection. The majority of empirical analyses find frailer survivors. I find heterogeneous effects. Among severely stressed former Union Army POWs, which effect dominates 35 years after the end of the Civil War depends on age at imprisonment. Among survivors to 1900, those younger than 30 at imprisonment faced higher older age mortality and morbidity and worse socioeconomic outcomes than non-POW and other POW controls whereas those older than 30 at imprisonment faced a lower older age death risk than the controls.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: J1; J14; N31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| mortality selection effect (I12) | resilience in older POWs (J26) |
| scarring from imprisonment (O17) | later-life health (I12) |
| POW status (P30) | mortality rates (younger than 30) (I12) |
| POW status (P30) | morbidity (younger than 30) (I12) |
| POW status (P30) | mortality rates (older than 30) (I12) |