Social Classes, Inequalities and Health Disparities: The Intervening Role of Early Health Status

Carolina Milesi, University of Wisconsin at Madison

The persistence of adult health and mortality inequalities and the equally stubborn reproduction of social class inequalities are two salient regularities in modern societies that puzzle researchers in completely different and unconnected research domains. Using a new strand of labor economics emphasizing the existence of non-conventional skills and relying on research findings about the effects of early childhood health and conditions on adult health and economic success, this paper poses attempts to (a) partially account for intergenerational transmission of inequalities and (b) partially confirm the plausibility and importance of health selection (selection of Type II) as an explanation for current adult health and mortality differentials. We use estimates from NLSY and ECLS as well as from extant economics literature to assemble approximate estimates for the contribution of early child conditions to intergenerational transmission of inequalities, and suggest extensions of the same procedure to account for adult health and mortality inequalities.