Long-term impacts of early adversity on subjective well-being: Evidence from the Chinese great famine

Abstract

Employing a difference-in-differences method across birth cohorts and regions with nationally representative data, this study examines the impact of the 1959–1961 Chinese Great Famine on survivors’ subjective well-being (SWB) fifty years later. Early-life exposure significantly reduces emotional and eudaimonic SWB, especially among females; evaluative SWB remains unaffected. Mechanism analysis highlights health status and social integration as primary channels, with socioeconomic status playing a limited role. This study is the first to systematically analyze the famine's SWB effects, revealing variability across well-being dimensions. Our findings underscore early-life circumstances’ pivotal role in SWB and the enduring consequences of adversity and public disasters.