Impacts of Child Health on Families: Evidence from Childhood Cancers

Achyuta Adhvaryu; N. Meltem Daysal; Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson; Teresa Molina; Herdis Steingrimsdottir

Impacts of Child Health on Families: Evidence from Childhood Cancers

Achyuta Adhvaryu, N. Meltem Daysal, Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson, Teresa Molina, Herdis Steingrimsdottir

Department of Economics

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › Research › peer-review

Abstract

How do parents contend with threats to the health and survival of their children? We combine the universe of cancer diagnoses among Danish children with register data for affected and matched unaffected families. Parental income declines substantially for 3-4 years following diagnosis, an effect driven by reductions in working hours. Fathers’ incomes recover fully, but mothers’ incomes remain 5% lower 12 years after diagnosis. Both parents’ mental health suffers. Fertility increases, particularly among families in which the child died. These results demonstrate that even in high-income settings, severe shocks to child health can have long-lasting consequences for family outcomes.

Original language	English
Publication date	Mar 2022
Number of pages	28
Publication status	Published - Mar 2022
Event	5th IZA Workshop on Gender and Family Economics: Families as an Insurance Mechanism - Online, WWW Duration: 1 Jun 2022 → 2 Jun 2022 Conference number: 5 https://conference.iza.org/conference_files/Gender_2022/program

Workshop

Workshop	5th IZA Workshop on Gender and Family Economics
Number	5
Location	Online
Country/Territory	WWW
Period	01/06/2022 → 02/06/2022
Internet address	https://conference.iza.org/conference_files/Gender_2022/program

Keywords

Children
Child health
Cancer
Child mortality
Income
Labor supply
Long-run effects
Mental health
Denmark

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This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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https://conference.iza.org/conference_files/Gender_2022/steingrimsdottir_h21077.pdfLicence: Unspecified

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Cite this

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title = "Impacts of Child Health on Families: Evidence from Childhood Cancers",

abstract = "How do parents contend with threats to the health and survival of their children? We combine the universe of cancer diagnoses among Danish children with register data for affected and matched unaffected families. Parental income declines substantially for 3-4 years following diagnosis, an effect driven by reductions in working hours. Fathers{\textquoteright} incomes recover fully, but mothers{\textquoteright} incomes remain 5% lower 12 years after diagnosis. Both parents{\textquoteright} mental health suffers. Fertility increases, particularly among families in which the child died. These results demonstrate that even in high-income settings, severe shocks to child health can have long-lasting consequences for family outcomes.",

keywords = "Children, Child health, Cancer, Child mortality, Income, Labor supply, Long-run effects, Mental health, Denmark, Children, Child health, Cancer, Child mortality, Income, Labor supply, Long-run effects, Mental health, Denmark",

author = "Achyuta Adhvaryu and Daysal, {N. Meltem} and Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson and Teresa Molina and Herdis Steingrimsdottir",

year = "2022",

month = mar,

language = "English",

note = "5th IZA Workshop on Gender and Family Economics : Families as an Insurance Mechanism, Gender 2022 ; Conference date: 01-06-2022 Through 02-06-2022",

url = "https://conference.iza.org/conference_files/Gender_2022/program",

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T1 - Impacts of Child Health on Families

T2 - 5th IZA Workshop on Gender and Family Economics

AU - Adhvaryu, Achyuta

AU - Daysal, N. Meltem

AU - Gunnsteinsson, Snaebjorn

AU - Molina, Teresa

AU - Steingrimsdottir, Herdis

N1 - Conference code: 5

PY - 2022/3

Y1 - 2022/3

N2 - How do parents contend with threats to the health and survival of their children? We combine the universe of cancer diagnoses among Danish children with register data for affected and matched unaffected families. Parental income declines substantially for 3-4 years following diagnosis, an effect driven by reductions in working hours. Fathers’ incomes recover fully, but mothers’ incomes remain 5% lower 12 years after diagnosis. Both parents’ mental health suffers. Fertility increases, particularly among families in which the child died. These results demonstrate that even in high-income settings, severe shocks to child health can have long-lasting consequences for family outcomes.

AB - How do parents contend with threats to the health and survival of their children? We combine the universe of cancer diagnoses among Danish children with register data for affected and matched unaffected families. Parental income declines substantially for 3-4 years following diagnosis, an effect driven by reductions in working hours. Fathers’ incomes recover fully, but mothers’ incomes remain 5% lower 12 years after diagnosis. Both parents’ mental health suffers. Fertility increases, particularly among families in which the child died. These results demonstrate that even in high-income settings, severe shocks to child health can have long-lasting consequences for family outcomes.

KW - Children

KW - Child health

KW - Cancer

KW - Child mortality

KW - Income

KW - Labor supply

KW - Long-run effects

KW - Mental health

KW - Denmark