Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of a Child Health Investment*

Sarah Baird; Joan Hamory Hicks; Michael Kremer; Edward Miguel

doi:10.1093/qje/qjw022

Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 131 No. 4 2016

Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of a Child Health Investment*

Sarah Baird^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}; Joan Hamory Hicks^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}; Michael Kremer^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}; Edward Miguel^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}

¹ Gates (United States) · ² American University · ³ Hamilton College · ⁴ George Washington University · ⁵ Hong Kong University of Science and Technology · ⁶ International Health Economics Association · ⁷ University of Oklahoma · ⁸ University of Hong Kong · ⁹ University of California, Berkeley

open access

Abstract

This study estimates long-run impacts of a child health investment, exploiting community-wide experimental variation in school-based deworming. The program increased labor supply among men and education among women, with accompanying shifts in labor market specialization. Ten years after deworming treatment, men who were eligible as boys stay enrolled for more years of primary school, work 17% more hours each week, spend more time in nonagricultural self-employment, are more likely to hold manufacturing jobs, and miss one fewer meal per week. Women who were in treatment schools as girls are approximately one quarter more likely to have attended secondary school, halving the gender gap. They reallocate time from traditional agriculture into cash crops and nonagricultural self-employment. We estimate a conservative annualized financial internal rate of return to deworming of 32%, and show that mass deworming may generate more in future government revenue than it costs in subsidies.

DOI: 10.1093/qje/qjw022
Volume: 131
Issue: 4
Pages: 1637-1680
Language: en
Sources: openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref

Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of a Child Health Investment*

Abstract

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