Final published version
Licence: CC BY-NC-ND: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Early life shocks and mental health
T2 - Long-term effects of war in Vietnam
AU - Singhal, Saurabh
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - This paper provides causal evidence on early-life exposure to war on mental health status in adulthood. Using an instrumental variable strategy, the evidence indicates that early-life exposure to bombing during the American war in Vietnam has long-term effects. A one percent increase in bombing intensity during 1965–75 increases the likelihood of severe mental distress in adulthood by 16 percentage points (or approximately 50 percent of the mean) and this result is robust to a variety of sensitivity checks. The negative effects of war are similar for both men and women. These findings add to the evidence on the enduring consequences of conflict and identify a critical area for policy intervention.
AB - This paper provides causal evidence on early-life exposure to war on mental health status in adulthood. Using an instrumental variable strategy, the evidence indicates that early-life exposure to bombing during the American war in Vietnam has long-term effects. A one percent increase in bombing intensity during 1965–75 increases the likelihood of severe mental distress in adulthood by 16 percentage points (or approximately 50 percent of the mean) and this result is robust to a variety of sensitivity checks. The negative effects of war are similar for both men and women. These findings add to the evidence on the enduring consequences of conflict and identify a critical area for policy intervention.
KW - Early-life
KW - Mental health
KW - Conflict
KW - Vietnam
U2 - 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.06.002
DO - 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.06.002
M3 - Journal article
VL - 141
JO - Journal of Development Economics
JF - Journal of Development Economics
SN - 0304-3878
M1 - 102244
ER -