EARLY HEALTH-RELATED BEHAVIORS AND THEIR IMPACT ON LATER LIFE CHANCES- EVIDENCE FROM THE US

This paper uses evidence from the US to examine the impact of adolesce nt illegal consumption and violent behaviour on later life chances. Sp ecifically, we look at the effect of such behaviour by young men in la te adolescence on productivity and household formation 10 years on. We find that alcohol and soft drug consumption have no harmful effects o n economic prospects in later life. In contrast, hard drug consumption and violent behaviour in adolescence are both associated with lower p roductivity even by the time the individuals are in their late twentie s. These effects are substantial and affect earnings levels and earnin gs growth. These results are robust to the inclusion of a rich set of additional controls measuring aspects of the individuals' backgrounds. However, we find no evidence of any of these behaviours significantly affecting household formation. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.