Whether children who inherit social advantages or those who exhibit motivated hard work are more likely to attain superior well-being over time remains a critical question, yet has received little empirical examination. This paper aims to provide new evidence from China on this issue by deploying a natural experiment research design. The empirical analysis explores the link between early-life experiences shaped by parental family background and children's long-term well-being outcome. Using household survey data from China, we find that children born with social advantages tend to complete mor...
