Maarten Lindeboom - Maternal stress and offspring lifelong labor market outcomes
More Information
Title: Maternal stress and offspring lifelong labor market outcomes
Abstract: This paper examines the effects of maternal stress on offspring lifelong labor market
outcomes. We exploit a unique natural experiment that involved randomly placed Nazi raids
in municipalities in Italy during WWII. We link administrative data of male private sector
workers to information about war casualties and Nazi raids. Prenatal stress exposure leads to
lower wage earnings throughout the labor market career. The earnings penalty is due to
sorting in lower skill level jobs and interruptions in the working career. We also show that
workers prenatally exposed to stress face larger earnings reductions after job loss due to
mass layoffs.
Presenter: Maarten Lindeboom (PhD Leiden University) is a professor of Economics and head of the department of economics. He is currently editor of the Journal of Health Economics and held longer term visiting position at the University of Michigan (Netherlands visiting Professorship, The Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences) and the University of Bristol (Benjamin Meaker Chair). He is also a crown appointed member of the Socio-Economic Council of the Netherlands and member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities.
For any inquiries, please email Susan Méndez (susan.mendez@unimelb.edu.au)