Fabrizio Mazzonna

Can We Trust Older People’s Statements on Their Childhood Circumstances? Evidence from SHARELIFE

This paper analyzes the quality of subjective assessments related to childhood circumstances when provided by old-age individuals. Early life events are important for social scientists to predict individual outcomes later in life and because of data restrictions, retrospective assessments are often used. Nevertheless, there is widespread skepticism on the ability of old-age respondents to recall with good accuracy events occurred many years ago. Using data from the survey of health, aging and retirement in Europe (SHARE), we assess the internal and external consistency of some measures of childhood health and socio-economic status. Our study suggests that overall respondents seem to remember fairly well their health status and their living conditions between age 0–15. Applying a cross-country comparison (13 European countries), we analyse within survey responses with external historical data (e.g., GDP per capita in period 1926–1956) at a country and cohort level. Our results should mitigate some of the doubts on retrospective data collection and promote their use for research purposes.

The long-lasting effects of family background: A European cross-country comparison

This paper investigates how and to what extent the association between family socio-economic status (SES) during childhood and old age health, income and cognition varies across 11 European countries. It uses the Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and SHARELIFE, which collects retrospective information on respondents’ family backgrounds during their childhood. We also analyze which factors lead to intergenerational persistence of human capital by accounting for childhood health and school performance, education and labor market outcomes. The results show a strong relationship between family SES during childhood and old age outcomes and a large cross-country heterogeneity. Education appears as the main channel for this gradient and explains most of the estimated cross-country heterogeneity. Moreover, we show evidence of a strong correlation between income inequality and our estimates of intergenerational persistence of human capital.

The long lasting effects of education on old age health: evidence of gender differences.

The large and positive association between education and many health outcomes is well-documented but what drives this association is still a matter of discussion in the literature. Exploiting the time and geographical exogenous variation in compulsory schooling laws across 6 European countries this paper shows evidence of large and positive effects of the additional year of schooling induced by these policies only on mens self reported health, depression and memory in old age. Furthermore, results suggest that these effects come mainly through an improvement in mens working conditions with small or no role played by income and health related behaviors. On the other hand, since women affected by compulsory school reforms show a very low labor force attachment, they do not show similar spillovers. These policies only have mixed effects on womens health related behaviors. In particular, affected women show a lower probability of being overweight, but also a higher probability of having ever smoked.

Circadian Rhythms, Sleep and Cognitive Skills: Evidence from an Unsleeping Giant

This study analyzes the effects of sleep duration on cognitive skills and depression symptoms of older workers in urban China. Cognitive skills and mental health have been associated with sleep duration and are known to be strongly related to economic behavior and performance. However, causal evidence is lacking, and little is known about sleep deprivation in developing countries. We exploit the relationship between circadian rhythms and bedtime to identify the effects of sleep using sunset time as an instrument. Using the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we show that a later sunset time significantly reduces sleep duration and that sleep duration increases cognitive skills and eases depression symptoms of workers aged 45 years and older. The results are driven by employed individuals living in urban areas, who are more likely to be constrained by rigid work schedules. We find no evidence of significant effects on the self-employed, non-employed, or farmers.

Short term effects of public smoking bans on health

This paper evaluates the causal negative effect of environmental tobacco exposure on health by exploiting the time and geographical variation in public-place smoking bans implemented in Switzerland between 2007 and 2011. Using monthly data from the universe of Swiss hospitals between 2004 and 2012, we show that the incidence of acute myocardial infarction hospitalizations decreases by about 10-12% immediately after the law implementation. We also find evidence of heterogeneity by age and sex and across income and education groups. In particular, the policy affected mainly men aged 50+ and the regions characterized by a lower level of income and education.

Can a smoking ban save your heart?: Can a smoking ban save your heart?

This paper evaluates the causal effect of environmental tobacco exposure on health by exploiting the time and geographical variation in public-place smoking bans implemented in Switzerland between 2007 and 2011. We use administrative data on hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction, which allow to measure the short-run effects of the policy on an objective metric of health. We show that the incidence of acute myocardial infarction decreases by approximately 8% immediately after implementation of the law with large heterogeneity across regions. Our results indicate that the policy was effective in reducing the negative externality of smoking with potential spillovers on health inequality.