The associations between early life circumstances and later life health and employment in the Netherlands and Spain

M. Flores, A.S. Kalwij

Research output: Working paperAcademic

Abstract

Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, this
paper provides empirical evidence for the Netherlands and Spain on the associations
between individuals’ early life circumstances—measured by health and
socioeconomic status (SES) during childhood—educational attainment, and later life
health and employment (at ages 50–64). We find that for both men and women in
the Netherlands and Spain, favorable early life circumstances (i.e., better childhood
health and higher SES) are associated with a higher level of education, which is in
turn associated with better health later in life. This latter is also linked to early life
circumstances conditional on educational attainment. For men only, favorable early
life circumstances are associated with a higher incidence of later life employment,
primarily because of better later life health. Our findings thus suggest that policies
aimed at improving children’s health and SES may have long-term benefits through
increased individual educational attainment and later life health and employment.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationUtrecht
PublisherUU USE Tjalling C. Koopmans Research Institute
Number of pages38
Publication statusPublished - 2011

Publication series

NameDiscussion Paper Series / Tjalling C. Koopmans Research Institute
No.10
Volume11
ISSN (Electronic)2666-8238

Keywords

  • Early life circumstances
  • health
  • employment

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