Early life-circumstances and preference formation - the case of breastfeeding duration

Abstract

A growing literature suggests a remarkable heterogeneity in skills and preferences. Although these heterogeneities play an important role in the determination of life outcomes, little is known about their origins. We propose and validate the breastfeeding duration as measure of early lifecircumstances and explore its effects in the development process of risk, time and social preferences. We do so by analysing cross-section data of preschool children and students, as well as representative panel data. We find that a longer duration of breastfeeding is associated with more patience and altruism as well as a lower willingness to take risk. These results are robust controlling for cognitive ability, the socio-economic family environment, as well as cognitive ability, preferences and personality of the mother. This effect also persists into adulthood since it is also found for students. Finally we use the variation in average breastfeeding durations from the 1970s until the 1990s to show that the effect is also observable in a panel based cohort analysis. In sum our findings suggest that early life circumstances systematically and persistently affect preference formation.