A quick graphical summary of "Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South."
Rockefeller takes on Hookworm in the South, circa 1910.
Source for graphic: Wall Street Journal, graphic accompanying Wessel column,
There was substantial heterogeneity across areas, largely due to soil type.
Map of pre-eradication hookworm intensities (red = more infection. green = less. blue = no data):
Highly Infected Areas Saw Greater Declines in Hookworm
Highly Infected Areas Saw Greater Increases in School Attendance
The Shift in School Attendance Coincided with the Rockefeller Anti-Hookworm Campaign
Areas with High Pre-Eradication Hookworm Saw Faster Cross-Cohort Growth in Income.
The Shift in Income Coincided with Childhood Exposure to Hookworm (the dashed line)
For more information, you can find this study forthcoming in the Quarterly Journal of Economics,
and/or an earlier version was circulated as Stigler Center Working Paper no.
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