Gender-Specific Effects of Prenatal Famine Exposure on Educational Attainment: Accounting for Selective Mortality

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Kasahara, Hiroyuki, Zhou, Weina
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Kasahara, Hiroyuki
Zhou, Weina
author_facet Kasahara, Hiroyuki
Zhou, Weina
contents Selective mortality and fertility issues are persistent challenges in estimating the fetal origin effect, with attempts to address these issues being notably scarce. Evidence further suggests that selective mortality is more pronounced in males than in females. This study investigates the causal effects of prenatal exposure to the Great Chinese Famine on educational attainment by addressing gender-specific selection bias. We compare exposed individuals with their unexposed, same-gender siblings, using a famine intensity measure based on county-year level excess death rates. Our findings reveal remarkably similar consequences for both genders: on average, famine exposure increased illiteracy rates by 4 percentage points and decreased years of schooling by 0.3 years for both males and females. These results contribute to our understanding of the long-term impacts of prenatal malnutrition, while accounting for gender-specific selection biases.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_01496
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Gender-Specific Effects of Prenatal Famine Exposure on Educational Attainment: Accounting for Selective Mortality
Kasahara, Hiroyuki
Zhou, Weina
General Economics
Economics
Selective mortality and fertility issues are persistent challenges in estimating the fetal origin effect, with attempts to address these issues being notably scarce. Evidence further suggests that selective mortality is more pronounced in males than in females. This study investigates the causal effects of prenatal exposure to the Great Chinese Famine on educational attainment by addressing gender-specific selection bias. We compare exposed individuals with their unexposed, same-gender siblings, using a famine intensity measure based on county-year level excess death rates. Our findings reveal remarkably similar consequences for both genders: on average, famine exposure increased illiteracy rates by 4 percentage points and decreased years of schooling by 0.3 years for both males and females. These results contribute to our understanding of the long-term impacts of prenatal malnutrition, while accounting for gender-specific selection biases.
title Gender-Specific Effects of Prenatal Famine Exposure on Educational Attainment: Accounting for Selective Mortality
topic General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.01496