Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文

苦难与亲社会性：中国1959-1961年大饥荒早期生活逆境对亲社会行为的长期影响

Misery and prosociality: The long-run impact of early-life adversity on prosocial behavior in China’s 1959–1961 Great Famine

Jun Hyung Kim, Shaoda Vincent Wang, Junsen Zhang, Kang Zhou

打开原文页面 DOI：10.1016/j.eeh.2026.101788

来源

Explorations in Economic History · 期刊论文

本站首次发现

2026-09-16 03:43

日期信息

官方在线 2026-09-15 · 来源：RSS

主题

与中国相关环境与气候发展经济学行为与组织

摘要

We study the early origins of prosocial behavior by using exogenous exposure to the Great Chinese Famine during early childhood. Using a cohort-based difference-in-differences approach, we find that individuals exposed to the famine between ages 1 and 3 years at its onset exhibit significantly higher charitable donations six decades later. This effect is especially strong for individuals who had siblings during the famine. We provide suggestive evidence that the family environment and opportunities for intra-household interaction may have contributed to this pattern, while finding little support for income or religiosity as alternative explanations. These findings highlight the role of family interactions in fostering altruism, especially in the context of early-life adversity.

中文摘要

我们通过利用幼年时期对中国大饥荒的外生暴露，研究亲社会行为的早期起源。采用基于队列的双重差分方法，我们发现，在大饥荒开始时尚处于1至3岁之间而暴露于饥荒的个体，在六十年后表现出显著更高的慈善捐赠。这一效应对于在饥荒期间有兄弟姐妹的个体尤为强烈。我们提供提示性证据表明，家庭环境以及家庭内部互动的机会可能促成了这一模式，同时发现收入或宗教虔诚作为替代性解释的支持甚少。这些发现凸显了家庭互动在培育利他主义中的作用，尤其是在早期生活逆境的背景下。