Related papers: The long-run returns to breastfeeding
This study uses data from the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic in Japan along with newly digitized and complete census records on births and infant deaths to analyze mortality selection in utero. I find that fetal exposure to the influenza…
The start of a human's life can be characterized by two lotteries: that of your genes (nature) and the family you were born into (nurture). These set in motion a trajectory, from birth onward, in health and human capital. Leveraging three…
Although interventional studies demonstrate that preventing malaria during pregnancy can reduce the low birth weight (i.e., child's birth weight $<$ 2,500 grams) rate, it remains unknown whether natural changes in parasite transmission and…
Birth weight serves as a fundamental indicator of neonatal health, closely linked to both early medical interventions and long-term developmental risks. Traditional predictive models, often constrained by limited feature selection and…
We analyse binary multivariate longitudinal data of a population of households from a rural district in South Africa. Using a 2-dimensional graphical representation of longitudinal data, each household's data is transformed into a…
Here we study polysemy as a potential learning bias in vocabulary learning in children. Words of low polysemy could be preferred as they reduce the disambiguation effort for the listener. However, such preference could be a side-effect of…
Socio-demographic disparities in STEM degree outcomes impact the diversity of the UK's future workforce, particularly in fields essential for innovation and growth. Despite the importance of institution-level, longitudinal analyses in…
Will the United Kingdom's ageing population be fit and independent, or suffer from greater chronic ill health? Healthy life expectancy is commonly used to assess this: it is an estimate of how many years are lived in good health over the…
The prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases such as obesity has noticeably increased in the last decade. The study of these diseases in early life is of paramount importance in determining their course in adult life and in…
Background: Overweight and obesity are an increasing phenomenon worldwide. Predicting future overweight or obesity early in the childhood reliably could enable a successful intervention by experts. While a lot of research has been done…
For two genotypes that have the same mean number of offspring but differ in the variance in offspring number, natural selection will favor the genotype with lower variance. The concept of fitness becomes cloudy under these conditions…
On average men are taller and more muscular than women, which confers on them advantages related to female choice and during physical competition with other men. Sexual size dimorphisms such as these come with vulnerabilities due to higher…
In this working paper, I developed a suite of macroeconomic models that shed light on the intricate relationship between economic development, health, and fertility. These innovative models conceptualize health as an intermediate good,…
Automated voice calls are an effective method of delivering maternal and child health information to mothers in underserved communities. One method to fight dwindling listenership is through an intervention in which health workers make live…
This paper uses register-based data to analyze the consequences of a recent major Danish welfare reform for children's academic performance and well-being. In addition to work requirements, the reform brought about considerable reductions…
Background: Dementia leads to a high burden of disability and the number of dementia patients worldwide doubled between 1990 and 2016. Nevertheless, some studies indicated a decrease in dementia risk which may be due to a bias caused by…
We study the dynamics of an age-structured population in which the life expectancy of an offspring may be mutated with respect to that of its parent. When advantageous mutation is favored, the average fitness of the population grows…
Many life-history traits, like the age at maturity or adult longevity, are important determinants of the generation time. For instance, semelparous species whose adults reproduce once and die have shorter generation times than iteroparous…
Using the introduction of comprehensive sex education in Sweden as a natural experiment, we explore how educational curricula can shape social norms and impact personal well-being. Inspired by liberal values, the curriculum taught more than…
This paper aims to assess the effects of industrial pollution on infant mortality between the years 1850-1940 using full count decennial censuses. In this period, US economy experienced a tremendous rise in industrial activity with…