Working Paper: NBER ID: w13539
Authors: David Cutler; Winnie Fung; Michael Kremer; Monica Singhal; Tom Vogl
Abstract: We examine the effects of malaria on educational attainment and income by exploiting geographic variation in malaria prevalence in India prior to a nationwide eradication program in the 1950s. We find that the program led to modest increases in income for prime age men. This finding is robust to using very localized sources of geographic variation and to instrumenting for pre-eradication prevalence with climate factors. We do not observe improvements in income for women, suggesting that observed effects are likely driven by increased labor market productivity. We find no evidence of increased educational attainment for men, and mixed evidence for women.
Keywords: malaria; eradication; India; human capital; income
JEL Codes: H51; I18; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Malaria Eradication Program (I10) | Income for prime-age men (J31) |
| Reduction in malaria prevalence (I14) | Per capita household expenditure (D12) |
| Malaria Eradication Program (I10) | Reduction in malaria prevalence (I14) |
| Income for prime-age men (J31) | Labor market productivity (J29) |
| Malaria Eradication Program (I10) | Educational attainment for men (I21) |
| Malaria Eradication Program (I10) | Educational attainment for women (I24) |