Early-life conditions, lifetime income and mortality risk in Italy

In this study, we obtain insights into the impact of early-life conditions on old-age mortality in Italy. We capture cohorts' life conditions by means of mortality rates at different early-life stages and exploit exogenous variation provided by a series of abrupt mortality events which severely affected specific cohorts. We also test whether lifetime income – approximated by the amount of the pension benefit - is health protective against bad circumstances experienced in early life. Early-life conditions have a long-lasting effect on males' mortality. Results suggest the existence of a considerable “scarring” effect: the death probability of a male born in 1932 alive at age 65 is 15% lower than that of a male born at the beginning of the XX-th century due to improved early-life conditions. For females, we do not find a significant impact of early-life conditions. We do not find evidence that income is health protective. On the contrary, we find that especially mortality of richer individuals is affected by circumstances in early life.