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Multigenerational Effects of Smallpox Vaccination

Lazuka, Volha LU and Jensen, Peter Sandholt (2021) In Lund Papers in Economic History
Abstract
This paper aims at finding whether vaccination in childhood is an important source of improved health over the life cycle and across generations. We leverage high-quality individual-level data from Sweden covering the full life spans of three generations between 1790 and 2016 and a historical quasi-experiment – a smallpox vaccination campaign. To derive the causal impact of this campaign, we employ the instrumental-variables approach and the siblings/cousins fixed effects. Our results show that the vaccine injection by age 2 improved longevity of the first generation by 14 years and made them much wealthier in adult ages. These effects, with the magnitude reduced by two thirds, persisted to the second and the third generation. Such... (More)
This paper aims at finding whether vaccination in childhood is an important source of improved health over the life cycle and across generations. We leverage high-quality individual-level data from Sweden covering the full life spans of three generations between 1790 and 2016 and a historical quasi-experiment – a smallpox vaccination campaign. To derive the causal impact of this campaign, we employ the instrumental-variables approach and the siblings/cousins fixed effects. Our results show that the vaccine injection by age 2 improved longevity of the first generation by 14 years and made them much wealthier in adult ages. These effects, with the magnitude reduced by two thirds, persisted to the second and the third generation. Such magnitudes make vaccination a powerful health input in the very long term and suggest the transmission of environmental beyond genetic factors. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
intergenerational transmission of health, smallpox vaccination, instrumental variables, Sweden, I12, I15, I18, I38, J24, E24, N43
in
Lund Papers in Economic History
issue
2021:232
pages
62 pages
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a13c80ed-1d5d-48cc-b709-48379110b173
date added to LUP
2022-01-18 12:42:09
date last changed
2022-01-19 12:01:52
@misc{a13c80ed-1d5d-48cc-b709-48379110b173,
  abstract     = {{This paper aims at finding whether vaccination in childhood is an important source of improved health over the life cycle and across generations. We leverage high-quality individual-level data from Sweden covering the full life spans of three generations between 1790 and 2016 and a historical quasi-experiment – a smallpox vaccination campaign. To derive the causal impact of this campaign, we employ the instrumental-variables approach and the siblings/cousins fixed effects. Our results show that the vaccine injection by age 2 improved longevity of the first generation by 14 years and made them much wealthier in adult ages. These effects, with the magnitude reduced by two thirds, persisted to the second and the third generation. Such magnitudes make vaccination a powerful health input in the very long term and suggest the transmission of environmental beyond genetic factors.}},
  author       = {{Lazuka, Volha and Jensen, Peter Sandholt}},
  keywords     = {{intergenerational transmission of health; smallpox vaccination; instrumental variables; Sweden; I12; I15; I18; I38; J24; E24; N43}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2021:232}},
  series       = {{Lund Papers in  Economic History}},
  title        = {{Multigenerational Effects of Smallpox Vaccination}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/112184533/LUPEH_232.pdf}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}