Individual Behaviour as a Pathway between Early-life Shocks and Adult Health: Evidence from Hunger Episodes in Post-war Germany

We investigate long-run effects of hunger episodes experienced during childhood on health status and behavioural outcomes in later life. We combine self-reported data on hunger experiences from SHARELIFE with administrative data on food supply (caloric rations) in post-war Germany. The data suggest that individual behaviour is a pathway between early life-shocks and adult health. We find that lower-income adults who experienced hunger spend a larger fraction of income on food. Taken together, our results confirm that in addition to the well-documented biological channel from early life circumstances to adult health, there are also behavioural pathways.