Adriana Lleras-Muney, UCLA

About the Presentation

We examine the correlation in longevity (an overall measure of health) across generations using a unique dataset containing information about more than eight million families obtained from Family Search family trees. The intergenerational persistence in longevity is much smaller than that of other outcomes, with a correlation of only about 0.10.  Moreover, this correlation remained relatively stable throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries despite dramatic changes in longevity and its determinants. This result is robust to a variety of specification tests. Consistent with work on the intergenerational correlation of income, we also find evidence of substantial geographic variation in this correlation, suggesting a possible role for institutions.

About the Speaker

Adriana Lleras-Muney is a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at UCLA. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University and was an assistant professor of economics at Princeton University for seven years before moving to UCLA. Her research examines the relationships between socio-economic status and health, with a particular focus on education and income. Her most recent work investigates the long term impact of government policies on children by analyzing the effects of programs like the Mother’s Pension program and the Civilian Conservation Corps, implemented during the first half of the 20th century. She is also interested in the determinants of longevity. She is an associated editor for the Journal of Health Economics and she serves on the board editors of Demography. She served as a permanent member of the Social Sciences and Population Studies Study Section at the National Institute of Health for six years, and was an elected member of the American Economic Association Executive committee for 3 years. Lleras-Muney is a faculty fellow at the California Center for Population Research (CCPR),  the Center for Economic and Social Research and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); and a member of the California Policy Lab (CPL). 

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