Environment Before and After Birth and Mortality in Old Age

George Alter, Indiana University
Michel Oris, Université de Genève

A growing literature links conditions in infancy, early childhood, and maternal health during pregnancy to mortality in adulthood and old age. Some theorists argue that poor nutrition affects development, while others emphasize the long-run consequences of disease. We take advantage of life histories from three nineteenth-century communities to test hypotheses linking early life environment to old age mortality. Hypotheses involving nutrition imply that high prices around the time of birth should lead to higher mortality in old age, especially for those from poor families. Similarly, exposure to high mortality in early life should be associated with higher mortality in later life. In addition, we expect that different seasonal patterns of infant mortality will be reflected in patterns of longevity by month of birth, and we ask whether variations in prices and exposure to disease in infancy can explain the association between old age mortality and month of birth.