Research has shown a strong negative correlation between birth order and cognitive test scores, IQ, and educational outcomes. We ask whether birth order differences in health are present at birth using matched administrative data for more than 1,000,000 children born in Denmark between 1981 and...

Emerging strands of research have examined the family spillover effects of health shocks, usually focusing on labour market outcomes. However, the results have been inconclusive and there is only little evidence on the longer term consequences of health shocks or the mechanisms behind the...

Using four cross-sectional data files for the United States and Europe we show that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) have a significant impact on subjective wellbeing (SWB) in adulthood. Death of a parent, parental separation or divorce, financial difficulties, the prolonged absence of a...

Child maltreatment is pervasive, often undetected, yet harmful. We investigate whether it is impacted by unemployment by leveraging unique administrative data including all reported cases of child abuse and neglect in the United States from 2004 to 2012. Using an industry shift-share instrument...

This paper examines the impact of the 2014 Italian divorce law on help-seeking behavior of domestic violence victims and femicides. I find that contrary to expectations, the reform, which aimed to make divorce cheaper while requiring mutual consent, led to a decrease in help-seeking behavior...

Using data from 18 countries, we investigate the effects of child marriage bans on infant and under-5 mortality. We use variation in mothers' exposure to the ban across cohorts within each country and regional variation in "treatment intensity," calculated based on child marriage prevalence and...

What do social surveys of life cycle experience tell us about the determinants of subjective well-being? First, that the psychologists? setpoint model is wrong. Life events in the nonpecuniary domain, such as marriage, divorce, and physical disability, have a lasting effect on well-being, and do...

This paper uses a particular school exit rule previously in effect in England and Wales that allowed students born within the first five months of the academic year to leave school one term earlier than those born later in the year. Focusing on women, we show that those who were required to stay...

We provide evidence that living with an unmarried mother during childhood raises smoking propensities for young adults in Germany.

Research has shown a strong negative correlation between birth order and cognitive test scores, IQ, and educational outcomes. We ask whether birth order differences in health are present at birth using matched administrative data for more than 1,000,000 children born in Denmark between 1981 and...