Research

My research leverages large-scale administrative data to study the determinants and long-run consequences of early-life circumstances, with a particular focus on health, inequality, and intergenerational mobility.

Publications

1. How Infant Health Shapes Maternal Earnings.
   Abdel-Hamid Bello. Review of Economics of the Household, 2026.
   Article
2. Prenatal Exposure to PM2.5 and Infant Health: Evidence from Quebec.
   Abdel-Hamid Bello, Maripier Isabelle, and Guy Lacroix. Economics & Human Biology, 62, 101631, 2026.
   Article
3. Reproducibility and Robustness of Economics and Political Science Research.
   Abel Brodeur, David Mikola, Nathan Cook, Lenka Fiala, Abdel-Hamid Bello, et al. Nature, 652, 151–156, 2026.

Working papers

1. Intergenerational Transmission of Inequalities: Are Health Inequalities at Birth the Missing Link?
   Abdel-Hamid Bello, Maripier Isabelle, and Guy Lacroix. Preparing for resubmission.
   Working paper
   Abstract

   This paper studies whether poor health at birth contributes to the persistence of economic inequality across generations. Using linked Canadian administrative data covering two birth cohorts, we document the intergenerational transmission of low birth weight and examine how health at birth shapes the probability of moving above parental income rank. Sibling comparisons indicate that low birth weight reduces upward mobility, while subsequent childhood health shocks explain part, but not all, of this relationship.

Work in progress

• Breaking the Odds: Improving Childhood Socio-Emotional Skills to Raise Intergenerational Income Mobility.
  With Yann Algan, Sylvana Côté, and Maripier Isabelle.
  Abstract

  This project studies whether an early-childhood intervention targeting socio-emotional skills can affect long-run intergenerational income mobility. We link the Montreal Longitudinal Experimental Study to administrative tax records and compare treated boys with randomized controls, focusing on adult income ranks relative to parental income.

• Distant Conflicts, Local Consequences: Armed Conflict Onset and Birth Outcomes among Immigrants.
  With Maripier Isabelle and Guy Lacroix.
  Abstract

  This project examines whether armed conflicts in immigrants’ countries of origin affect birth outcomes among mothers living in Canada. We link Canadian administrative birth records with immigration data and monthly information on armed conflicts in mothers’ countries of origin. Focusing on immigrant women who arrived in Canada before conception, we exploit the timing of new conflict onsets following periods of peace relative to pregnancy. We find that the onset of armed conflict during pregnancy increases the probability of preterm birth, with the largest effects when conflict begins earlier in pregnancy. The results are robust to alternative definitions of conflict onset, temporal placebo tests, comparisons with immigrants from countries unaffected at the same time, and the exclusion of major conflict episodes. In contrast, broader measures of exposure to ongoing conflict yield substantially smaller effects, suggesting that the emergence of a new conflict—rather than conflict exposure per se—may constitute a particularly salient shock for immigrant families. These findings provide evidence that the health consequences of armed conflicts can extend beyond national borders, affecting immigrant populations living far from the violence.

• Perinatal public programs and child outcomes.