생애초기의 경험은 성인의 삶을 어떻게 결정짓는가

이 책은 생애초기의 경험이 성인기의 건강 및 사회경제적 성과에 미친 영향에 관해 저자가 해방 이후 한국이 경험했던 몇 가지 실험적인 사례에 기초하여 지난 10여 년 동안 연구한 결과를 정리한 것이다. 구체적으로 이 책은 한국전쟁, 해방 이후 식량공급의 변화, 5.18민주화운동 등 세 가지 사건을 주요 연구 대상으로 한다. 한국의 자연실험적인 사례를 다룬 이 책은 생애초기 조건이 건강과 인적자본 발달에 미친 영향에 관한 연구에 적지 않은 공헌을 할 것이다. 한국은 짧은 기간 매우 급격한 경제적 발전과 사회적 변화를 경험했고, 이로 인해 현재 중년 및 고령인구는 출생 코호트별로 매우 다른 환경적 여건에서 태아기 및 유아기를 보냈다. 이러한 한국의 특징은 매우 유용한 자연실험의 조건을 제공해 준다. 또한 한국은 기존의 연구가 집중되었던 서구와는 제도적, 문화적으로 상이하다. 따라서 한국에 대한 연구는 생애초기 조건의 장기적 영향이 제도적, 문화적 여건에 따라 어떻게 다른지 이해하는 데 도움을 줄 수 있을 것이다.

Research across a range of disciplines have established that early-life circumstances play an important role in determining health and economic conditions over the life-course. A series of studies by physicians and epidemiologists links many of the degenerative conditions of old age to exposure to infectious disease, malnutrition, and other types of biomedical and socioeconomic stress in utero and during the early years of life. Recent research by economists suggests that early-life experiences have strong and persistent influences on human capital accumulation and labor market performance. In spite of the remarkable growth in the scholarly attention to the area, unresolved issues continue to exist. In particular, how the effects of early-life conditions differ across periods and nations remain unclear.
This book widens the scope of the literature drawn largely from Europe and America by focusing on Korean cases that have not been thoroughly studied. By exploring semiexperimental events in the country’s modern history, namely, the Korean War, differential changes in food availability across regions, and the Gwangju uprising in 1980, this book provides new evidence confirming that early-life conditions were critical to the formation and development of health and human capital of individuals in mid- and late-twentiethcentury Korea. The findings from rigorous analysis of rich micro-level data shed new lights into the mechanisms of and heterogeneity in the long-term consequences of early-life experiences, and offer useful policy implications for how to promote health and productivity of our future generations.

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. The Korean War as a Natural Experiment
2.1. The Korean War
2.2. Exploring Long-Term Consequences: Methods and Data
2.3. Summary

Chapter 3. Socioeconomic Consequences of In-Utero Exposure to the Korean War
3.1. Cohort Effects
3.2. Difference-in-Difference Estimations
3.3. Summary

Chapter 4. Early Exposure to the Korean War and Health Outcomes
4.1. Cohort Effects
4.2. Timing and Length of Exposure
4.3. Difference-in-Difference Estimations
4.4. Summary

Chapter 5. Long-Term Effects of the Korean War: Discussion and Implication
5.1. Potential Bias Arising from Population Selections
5.2. Differences by Gender, Cohort, and Year
5.3. Summary

Chapter 6. Nutrition and Human Capital Development 1: Data and Method
6.1. Background
6.2. Data
6.3. Methods
6.4. Summary

Chapter 7. Nutrition and Human Capital Development 2: Results
7.1. Nutritional Availability and Height
7.2. Additional Results and Discussion
7.3. Summary

Chapter 8. Intergenerational Effect of the Gwangju Uprising: Method
8.1. Intergenerational Transmission of Maternal Stress
8.2. The Gwangju Uprising in May 1980
8.3. Data and Methods
8.4. Summary

Chapter 9. Intergenerational Effects of Exposure to Maternal Stress
9.1. Major Results
9.2. Discussion: Robustness and Potential Bias
9.3. Summary

Chapter 10. Conclusion

Acknowledgements
References
Index