The Distribution of Malaria in the United States as Indicated by Mortality Reports

Maxcy, Kenneth F.

doi:10.2307/4576752

Cited by 15 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Analysis with all four measures is available from the author upon request. (Maxcy, 1923; Andrew Mellinger, private communication, and author’s calculations; Sok-Chul Hong, private communication, and author’s calculations. )…”

Section: A1 Details For the United States Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

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Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure

Bleakley

2010

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

339

316

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This study uses the malaria-eradication campaigns in the United States (circa 1920), and in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico (circa 1955) to measure how much childhood exposure to malaria depresses labor productivity. The campaigns began because of advances in health technology, which mitigates concerns about reverse causality. Malarious areas saw large drops in the disease thereafter. Relative to non-malarious areas, cohorts born after eradication had higher income as adults than the preceding generation. These cross-cohort changes coincided with childhood exposure to the campaigns rather than to pre-existing trends. Estimates suggest a substantial, though not predominant, role for malaria in explaining cross-region differences in income.

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Section: A1 Details For the United States Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

“…US mortality data are reported by the Census (1894), Maxcy (1923), and later in the Vital Statistics (Census, 1933.) Malaria mortality for Mexico is reported by Pesqueira (1957) and by the Mexican Anuario Estadístico (Dirección General de Estadística, 1960).…”

Section: Data Sources and Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure

Bleakley

2010

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

339

316

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“…To construct SEA rates, We create a population-weighted average of the constituent counties. (Maxcy, 1923.) The state-level data are the fraction of total mortality in 1890.…”

Section: A Sources and Definitions For The Micro Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronic Disease Burden and the Interaction of Education, Fertility, and Growth

Bleakley

Lange

2009

Review of Economics and Statistics

176

109

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This study considers the eradication of hookworm disease from the American South as a test of the quantity-quality (Q-Q) framework of fertility. Eradication was principally a shock to the price of quality because of three factors: hookworm (i) depresses the return to human-capital investment, (ii) had a very low case-fatality rate, and (iii) had negligible prevalence among adults. Consistent with the Q-Q model, we find a significant decline in fertility associated with eradication. Relative sizes of fertility and human-capital responses to hookworm indicate that the Q-Q mechanism is of a similar magnitude to secular co-movements in these same variables.

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“…Since the registration area for mortality was not fully developed until much later, I am constrained to use data from various, disparate sources. Data compiled by Maxcy (1923) was used to measure the relationship between hookworm infection and malaria mortality. Even though no simple correlation is present, I do find a significant relationship once I condition on the racial makeup and population density of the county.…”

Section: Data and Descriptive Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South

Bleakley¹

2007

The Quarterly Journal of Economics

812

583

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This study evaluates the economic consequences of the successful eradication of hookworm disease from the American South. The hookworm-eradication campaign (c. 1910) began soon after (i) the discovery that a variety of health problems among Southerners could be attributed to the disease and (ii) the donation by John D. Rockefeller of a substantial sum to the effort. The Rockefeller Sanitary Commission (RSC) surveyed infection rates in the affected areas (eleven southern states) and found that an average of forty percent of school-aged children were infected with hookworm. The RSC then sponsored treatment and education campaigns across the region. Follow-up studies indicate that this campaign substantially reduced hookworm disease almost immediately. The sudden introduction of this treatment combines with the cross-area differences in pre-treatment infection rates to form the basis of the identification strategy. Areas with higher levels of hookworm infection prior to the RSC experienced greater increases in school enrollment, attendance, and literacy after the intervention. This result is robust to controlling for a variety of alternative factors, including differential trends across areas, changing crop prices, shifts in certain educational and health policies, and the effect of malaria eradication. No significant contemporaneous results are found for adults, who should have benefited less from the intervention owing to their substantially lower (prior) infection rates. A long-term follow-up of affected cohorts indicates a substantial gain in income that coincided with exposure to hookworm eradication. I also find evidence that eradication increased the return to schooling.

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The Distribution of Malaria in the United States as Indicated by Mortality Reports

Cited by 15 publications

References 0 publications

Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure

Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure

Chronic Disease Burden and the Interaction of Education, Fertility, and Growth

Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South

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