Pietro Biroli (University of Bologna)
Deborah Cobb-Clark, Conchita DAmbrosio, Divya Mehta and Giorgia Menta
Economists have increasingly recognized the role of genetics in economic outcomes. Epigenetics, which studies changes in gene expression without altering DNA sequences, provides insights into how socioeconomic environments affect human biology and influence economic behaviors and outcomes. This paper explores the application of epigenetic clocks, which aggregate epigenetic data to predict biological aging and health risks, in economics research. We propose a novel integrated measure of epigenetic aging, the Multi EpiGenetic Age (MEGA) clock: several epigenetic clocks are combined to reduce measurement error and improve efficiency. Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we apply the MEGA clock in two empirical settings: first, we examine the association between longitudinal exposure to child abuse and epigenetic age acceleration in adolescence; second, we test the association between epigenetic age acceleration and early-adulthood cognitive and socioemotional outcomes. Our findings reveal that (i) exposure to child maltreatment before adolescence is associated with half a year of accelerated epigenetic aging and that (ii) epigenetic aging predicts moderately worse cognitive and socioemotional outcomes in early adulthood. These results highlight the usefulness of epigenetic aging as a metric for understanding the long-term effects of early-life adversity and inform economic policies targeting public health and productivity.