Working Paper: NBER ID: w23334
Authors: John Cawley; Damien de Walque; Daniel Grossman
Abstract: A substantial literature has examined the impact of stress during early childhood on later-life health. This paper contributes to that literature by examining the later-life health impact of stress during adolescence and early adulthood, using a novel proxy for stress: risk of military induction during the Vietnam War. \n\nWe estimate that a 10 percentage point (2 standard deviation) increase in induction risk in young adulthood is associated with a 1.5 percentage point (8%) increase in the probability of being obese and a 1 percentage point (10%) increase in the probability of being in fair or poor health later in life. This does not appear to be due to cohort effects; these associations exist only for men who did not serve in the war, and are not present for women or men who did serve. \n\nThese findings add to the evidence on the lasting consequences of stress, and also indicate that induction risk during Vietnam may, in certain contexts, be an invalid instrument for education or marriage because it appears to have a direct impact on health.
Keywords: stress; health; Vietnam draft; induction risk; later-life health
JEL Codes: H56; I1; I12; I14; I18; I31; J1; J18; N32
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Induction risk (D81) | BMI (I12) |
| Induction risk (D81) | Probability of obesity (C46) |
| Induction risk (D81) | Probability of fair or poor health (I14) |
| Induction risk (D81) | Probability of reporting very good or excellent health (I10) |