The project 'Long Term Mortality Effects of Potato Crisis' (LMP) is supervised by Prof. Dr. G. J. van den Berg and Prof. Dr. M. Lindeboom (Free University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics and Business) and is funded by NETSPAR (Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging and Retirement) in the Micro-Economics of Aging in Europe theme (Prof. Dr. R. Alessie, University Utrecht).

The research focuses on long-term mortality effects in relation to aggravating circumstances during the first year of life and to differences in socio-economic background. Hypotheses are tested using data from individuals who were born in the period 1843-1854 in the province of Zeeland. Individuals born before or after the potato crisis (1846-1847) are compared with a control group of research subjects born after 1847. The sample includes children from the same family so that specific family situations can be controlled. Both the research group and the control group consist of at least 400 persons reaching at least the age of ten years. Dates of death are found in the index of death certificates of Zeeland, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

The database is based on the existing database for HSN Zeeland. The project includes the following of HSN persons born in the period 1843-1849 (A), the oversampling of the Zeeland database with additional individuals born in the period 1843 to 1849 (B) and of the period 1850-1854 (C). The oversampling is limited to the first registration in the population register with at least one individual born between 1843 and 1849 and still alive in 1850. End of April 2008 the dataset was completed. For 2/3 of the total of 3200 sampled individuals could also be found a death date.

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