Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Indicators Research
Published in: Social Indicators Research 1/2017

10-07-2015

The Long-Term Health Effects of Mass Political Violence: Evidence from China’s Cultural Revolution

Authors: Asadul Islam, Paul Raschky, Russell Smyth

Published in: Social Indicators Research | Issue 1/2017

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

We examine the long-term health effects of mass political violence experienced in utero and in adolescence using China’s Cultural Revolution as a natural experiment. We find that individuals who were in utero in the Cultural Revolution have reduced lung capacity later in life. We also find that individuals who were adolescents in the Cultural Revolution have higher blood pressure and reduced ability to engage in activities of daily living later in life. Females who were adolescents in the Cultural Revolution have reduced lung capacity later in life, while males who were adolescents in the Cultural Revolution have reduced cognitive function later in life. We find that these effects are channelled through childhood health and education as well as height, which itself is a marker of childhood health.
previous article Assessing Income-Related Health Inequality and Horizontal Inequity in China
next article Faith and Happiness in China: Roles of Religious Identity, Beliefs, and Practice

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
Footnotes
1
Almond and Currie (2011a, b) review much of this literature and draw out the cross over between the epidemiology literature and the economics literature following Barker (1990) and Almond (2006).
 
Literature
Akresh, R., Bhalotra, S., Leone, M., & Osili, U. O. (2012a). War and stature: Growing up during the Nigerian civil war. American Economic Review, 102(3), 273–277.CrossRef
Akresh, R., Lucchetti, L., & Thirumurthy, H. (2012b). Wars and child health: Evidence from the Eritrean–Ethiopian conflict. Journal of Development Economics, 99(2), 330–340.CrossRef
Almond, D. (2006). Is the 1918 influenza pandemic over? Long-term effects of in utero influenza exposure in the post 1940 US population. Journal of Political Economy, 114, 672–712.CrossRef
Almond, D., & Currie, J. (2011a). Killing me softly: The fetal origins hypothesis. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(3), 153–172.CrossRef
Almond, D., & Currie, J. (2011b). Human capital development before age five. In O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (Eds.), Handbook of labor economics (Vol. 4B, pp. 1315–1486). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Almond, D., Edlund, L., Li, H., & Zhang, J. (2010). Long-term health effects of the 1959–1961 China famine: Mainland China and Hong Kong. In T. Ito & A. K. Rose (Eds.), The economic consequences of demographic change in East Asia (pp. 321–350). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRef
Anda, R., Brown, D., Dube, S., Bremnar, D., Felitti, V., & Giles, W. (2008). Adverse child experiences and chronic pulmonary disease in adults. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 34, 396–403.CrossRef
Anstey, K., & Christensen, H. (2000). Education, activity, health, blood pressure and apolipoprotein E as predictors of cognitive change in old age: A review. Gerentology, 46, 163–177.CrossRef
Banerjee, A., Duflo, E., Postel-Vinay, G., & Watts, T. M. (2010). Long-run health impacts of income shocks: Wine and phylloxera in nineteenth century France. Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(4), 714–728.CrossRef
Barker, D. J. P. (1990). The fetal and infant origins of adult disease: The womb may be more important than the home. British Medical Journal, 301, 1111.CrossRef
Barnouin, B., & Yu, C. (1993). Ten years of turbulence: The cultural revolution. London: Kegan Paul International.
Beard, A. S., & Blaser, M. J. (2002). The ecology of height: The effect of microbial transmission on human height. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 45, 475–499.CrossRef
Bundervoet, T., Vervimp, P., & Akresh, R. (2009). Health and civil war in rural Burundi. Journal of Human Resources, 44(2), 536–563.CrossRef
Case, A., Fertig, A., & Paxson, C. (2005). The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance. Journal of Health Economics, 24, 365–389.CrossRef
Case, A., & Paxson, C. (2008). Height, health and cognitive function at older ages. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, 98, 463–467.CrossRef
Chang, J., & Holliday, J. (2005). Mao: The unknown story. London: Jonathan Cape.
Chen, Q. (2010). Interrupted maternal education and child health: The long-run health impact of the Cultural Revolution. Job Market Paper: Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota.
Cutler, D., Deaton, A., & Lleras-Muney, A. (2006). The determinants of mortality. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20, 97–120.CrossRef
Cutler, D., Miller, G., & Norton, D. M. (2007). Evidence on early life income and late life health from America’s dust bowl era. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 104, 13244–13249.CrossRef
De Groot, R., Stein, A., Jolles, J., Boxtel, M., et al. (2011). Prenatal famine exposure and cognition at age 59 years. International Journal of Epidemiology, 40, 327–337.CrossRef
Dittmer, L. (1991). Learning from trauma: The Cultural Revolution in Post-Mao Politics. In W. Joseph, C. Wong, & D. Zweig (Eds.), New perspectives on the Cultural Revolution (pp. 19–40). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Forster, K. (1991). Factional politics in Zhejiang, 1973-1976. In W. Joseph, C. Wong, & D. Zweig (Eds.), New perspectives on the Cultural Revolution (pp. 105–132). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Godfrey, K. M. (1998). Maternal regulation of fetal development and health in adult life. European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology & Reproductive Biology, 78, 141–150.CrossRef
Harms, C. (2006). Does gender affect pulmonary function and exercise capacity? Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology, 151, 124–131.CrossRef
Higgins, L., Greenwood, S. L., Wareing, M., Sibley, C. P., & Mills, T. A. (2011). Obesity and the placenta: A consideration of nutrient exchange mechanisms in relation to aberrant fetal growth. Placenta, 32, 1–7.CrossRef
Ji, C. Y., Ohsawa, S., & Kasai, N. (1995). Secular changes in the stature, weight and age at maximum growth increments of urban Chinese girls from the 1950s to 1985. American Journal of Human Biology, 7, 473–474.CrossRef
Joseph, W., Wong, C., & Zweig, D. (1991). Introduction. In W. Joseph, C. Wong, & D. Zweig (Eds.), New perspectives on the cultural revolution (pp. 1–18). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Jurges, H. (2012). Collateral damage: Educational attainment and labor market outcomes among German war and post-war cohorts. Munich Center for the Economics of Aging, Discussion Paper 253-2012.
Kaitz, M., Levy, M., Ebstein, R., Faraone, S., et al. (2009). The intergenerational effects of trauma from terror: A real possibility. Infant Mental Health Journal, 30, 158–179.CrossRef
Kajante, E., & Raikkonen, K. (2010). Early life predictors of the psychological stress response later in life. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 23–32.CrossRef
Kesternich, I., Siflinger, B., Smith, J. P., & Winter, J. K. (2014). The effects of World War II on economic and health outcomes across Europe. Review of Economics and Statistics, 96(1), 103–118.CrossRef
Leung, S. S. F., Lau, J. T. F., Xu, Y. Y., Tse, L. Y., Huen, K. F., Wong, G. W. K., et al. (1996). Secular changes in standing height, sitting height and sexual maturation of Chinese—The Hong Kong growth study. Annals of Human Biology, 23, 297–306.CrossRef
Lobel, M., Dunkel-Schetter, C., & Scrimshaw, S. (1992). Prenatal maternal stress and prematurity: A prospective study of socioeconomically disadvantaged women. Health Psychology, 11, 32–40.CrossRef
Low, B. S. (2000). Why sex matters: A Darwinian look at human behavior. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
Neelsen, S., & Stratmann, T. (2011). Effects of prenatal and early life malnutrition: Evidence from the Greek Famine. Journal of Health Economics, 30, 479–488.CrossRef
Norman, M. A., Evans, J. D., Miller, S. W., & Heaton, R. K. (2000). Demographically corrected norms for the California Verbal Learning Test. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 22, 80–94.CrossRef
Plassman, B. L., Williams, J. W., Burke, J., Holsinger, T., et al. (2010). Systematic review: The factors associated with risk for, and possible prevention of, cognitive decline in later life. Annals of Internal Medicine, 153, 182–193.CrossRef
Schmand, B., Smit, J., Lindeboom, J., Smits, C., Hooijer, C., Jonker, C., & Deelman, B. (1997). Low education is a genuine risk factor for accelerated memory decline and dementia. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 50, 1025–1033.CrossRef
Sidel, W. W. (1972). The barefoot doctors of the People’s Republic of China. New England Journal of Medicine, 286, 1292–1300.CrossRef
Stewart, A. J., & Newton, N. J. (2010). Gender, adult development and aging. Handbook of gender research in aging, 7, 559–580.CrossRef
Su, Y. (2006). Mass killings in the Cultural Revolution: A study of three provinces. In J. Ersherick, P. Pickowicz, & A. Walder (Eds.), The Chinese Cultural Revolution as history (pp. 96–123). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Unger, J. (2007). The Cultural Revolution at the grass roots. China Journal, 57, 109–137.CrossRef
Van den Berg, G., Deeg, D. J., Lindeboom, M., & Portrait, F. (2010). The role of early-life conditions in the cognitive decline due to adverse events later in life. Economic Journal, 120, F411–F428.
Vrijlandt, E., Gerritsen, J., Boezen, H. M., Grevink, R. G., et al. (2006). Lung function and exercise capacity in young adults born prematurely. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 173, 890–896.CrossRef
Walder, A. (1991). Cultural Revolution radicalism: Variations on a Stalinist theme. In W. Joseph, C. Wong, & D. Zweig (Eds.), New perspectives on the Cultural Revolution (pp. 41–62). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Walder, A., & Su, Y. (2003). The Cultural Revolution in the countryside: Scope, timing and human impact. China Quarterly, 173, 74–99.CrossRef
White, L. T. (1991). The Cultural Revolution as an unintended result of administrative policies. In W. Joseph, C. Wong, & D. Zweig (Eds.), New perspectives on the Cultural Revolution (pp. 83–104). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Wright, R. J., & Steinbach, S. F. (2001). Violence: An unrecognized environmental exposure that may contribute to greater asthma morbidity in high risk inner-city populations. Environmental Health Perspectives, 109, 1085–1089.CrossRef
Zapata, B. C., Rebolledo, A., Atalah, E., Newman, B., et al. (1992). The influence of social and political violence on the risk of pregnancy complications. American Journal of Public Health, 82, 685–690.CrossRef
Zhang, J., Liu, P. W., & Yung, L. (2007). The Cultural Revolution and returns to schooling in China: Estimates based on twins. Journal of Development Economics, 84, 631–639.CrossRef
Zhao, Y., Strauss, J., Park, A., & Sun, Y. (2009). China health and retirement longitudinal study, Pilot User’s Guide. Beijing: National School of Development, Peking University.
Metadata
Title
The Long-Term Health Effects of Mass Political Violence: Evidence from China’s Cultural Revolution
Authors
Asadul Islam
Paul Raschky
Russell Smyth
Publication date
10-07-2015
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Social Indicators Research / Issue 1/2017
Print ISSN: 0303-8300
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0921
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-1030-6

Other articles of this Issue 1/2017

Social Indicators Research 1/2017 Go to the issue

OriginalPaper

Cross Cultural Application of the WHOQOL-SRPB in the Chinese Community with Diverse Spiritual Affiliations

OriginalPaper

Trust, Social Networks and Subjective Wellbeing in China

OriginalPaper

Career Decision Self-Efficacy and Life Satisfaction in China: An Empirical Analysis

OriginalPaper

Faith and Happiness in China: Roles of Religious Identity, Beliefs, and Practice

OriginalPaper

Fiscal Decentralization, Satisfaction with Social Services, and Inequality Under the Hukou System

OriginalPaper

Public Assistance, Economic Prospect, and Happiness in Urban China