Politicians' In-Utero Health Shocks, Human Capital, Preferences, and Career and Governance Outcomes : The Case of City Party Secretaries in China

In this paper, I provide an empirical and theoretical analysis on whether and how in-utero negative health shocks affect politicians' human capital and career and governance outcomes, using Chinese Great Famine (1959-1961) and Chinese city Party Secretaries as a case in point. Using a difference-in-differences empirical strategy, I document the fact that city Party Secretaries who are exposed to more severe famine in utero have significantly worse career and governance outcomes. I build an endogenous growth model with self-interested politicians to rationalize the facts, and estimate the model to quantify the effects of famine exposure on politicians' human capital and preference