Economic Development and Changing Socioeconomic Differences in Health: Evidence from South Korea, 1946-1977

This study examines how socioeconomic differences in health change with improvements in economic and environmental conditions in South Korea. Using a newly collected 0.5% random sample of military records for all males born from 1946 to 1957, I found that socioeconomic disparity in health increased across birth cohorts. A possible hypothesis is that health shocks (such as exposure to war-caused disruptions, natural disasters, and infectious diseases) could weaken the effects of different parental investments. Such shocks were more prevalent prior the end of the Korean War. In support of the hypothesis, I found that socioeconomic disparity in adult height among the cohorts born before 1952 was less pronounced among conscripts from the central region, which was more severely affected by the Korean War, than those from the south region.