Early Health Related Behaviours and their Impact onLater Life Chances: Evidence from the US

This paper uses evidence from the US to examine the impact ofadolescent illegal consumption and violent behaviour on later lifechances. Specifically, we look at the effect of such behaviour by youngmen in late adolescence on productivity and household formation tenyears on. We find that alcohol and soft drug consumption have noharmful effects on economic prospects in later life. In contrast, harddrug consumption and violent behaviour in adolescence are bothassociated with lower productivity even by the time the individuals arein their late twenties. These effects are substantial and affect earningslevels and earnings growth. These results are robust to the inclusion of arich set of additional controls measuring aspects of the individuals’backgrounds. However, we find no evidence of any of these behaviourssignificantly affecting household formation.[...]