Childhood Economic Conditions and Length of Life:Evidence from the UK Boyd Orr Cohort, 1937-–2005

We study the importance of childhood socioeconomic conditions in explaining differences inlife expectancy using data from a sample of around 5,000 children collected in the UK in1937-39, who have been traced through official death records up to 2005. We estimate anumber of duration of life models that control for unobserved household heterogeneity. Ourresults confirm that childhood conditions such as household income and the quality of thehome environment are significant predictors of longevity...