Long-Run Effects of Gestation during the Dutch Hunger Winter Famine on Labor Market and Hospitalization Outcomes

This is the first study to analyze effects of in utero exposure to the severe Dutch Hunger Winter famine (1944/45) on labor market outcomes and hospitalization. This famine is clearly demarcated in time and space. It was not anticipated. Nutritional conditions were stable before and after the famine. We provide results of exposure by sub-interval of gestation. We are the first to use population registers for the full population. We find a significantly negative effect of exposure during the first trimester of gestation on employment outcomes 53 or more years after birth, as well as effects on hospitalization.