Research

How early-life circumstances shape the brain aging process? This study sheds new lights on the effects of early-life shocks on long-term cognitive scores and depressive symptoms among Chinese elderly by leveraging the cross-sectional and longitudinal dimensions of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS). Relying on random assignment of early-life weather shocks at different timings from the prenatal period to 15 years old, I test whether early-life circumstances causally affect mental health and cognitive levels and dynamics observed from 50 to 80 years old. Results show that (i) weather shocks endured from birth to 5 years old reduce memory and numeracy scores, and increase depressive symptoms (ii) accelerate the cognitive decline and depressive symptoms trajectories over time, (iii) between ages 5 and 15, confounding factors such as schooling and weather-driven migration in later life offset the detrimental effect of weather shocks, suggesting that late childhood may be as critical as earlier years.

This study aims at investigating the effect of high temperatures on cognitive functions of individuals aged 50 and over. The empirical analysis exploits longitudinal data from the SHARE Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe which is combined with measures of daily temperature collected by ground weather stations. Our estimates are based on an individual fixed-effect strategy and show that high temperatures impede the cognitive functions. Our results reveal a stronger effect for poorer individuals, those aged over 65 years as well as those who are overweight. The poorest elderly are the more vulnerable to global warming, which impacts their working memory and fluency. This may affect their capacity to make complex decisions and, in turn, negatively affect their standard of living. Thus, our results suggest that global warming could amplify socio-economic inequalities.

India’s substantial fertilizer consumption, a legacy of the Green Revolution, raises debates regarding its trade-offs between agricultural productivity and environmental and health concerns. Consumption of nitrate and nitrite has been linked to health issues like methemoglobinemia, a potentially fatal condition for infants. We utilize new data on agricultural practices, water pollution, and health outcomes to explore the relationship between fertilizer runoff, nitrogen concentration in water, and child mortality.