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. 2016 Nov;131(4):1637-1680.
doi: 10.1093/qje/qjw022. Epub 2016 Jul 19.

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

Sarah Baird  1 , Joan Hamory Hicks  1 , Michael Kremer  1 , Edward Miguel  1
Affiliations

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

Sarah Baird et al. Q J Econ. 2016 Nov.

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.

Keywords: I10; I20; J24; O15.

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Figures

Figure I
Figure I
Project Timeline of the Primary School Deworming Program (PSDP) and the Kenya Life Panel Survey (KLPS)
Figure II
Figure II
Kernel Densities of Hours Worked in Self-Employment and Log Earnings in Wage Employment, Treatment versus Control Kernel density in the treatment group is shown in black, and in the control group shown in gray. Panel A displays hours worked in self-employment in the last week (among those working 10–80 hours in the sector) for males, and Panel B displays the same for females. Panel C displays log earnings in wage employment in the past month (among those with positive earnings) for males, and Panel D displays the same for females.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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