Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/235122 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper Series No. 10
Publisher: 
Bocconi University, Centre for Research on Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy and Networks (GREEN), Milan
Abstract: 
This study provides an estimation of the causal relationship between the reduction in malaria transmission and farmer agricultural productivity. Exploiting exogenous geographic variations in the stability of malaria and using historical disaggregated county data for the US together with a robust quasi-experimental approach, I show that the eradication of malaria led to approximately one fifth of the farmer agricultural productivity growth in the US. Using historical spatial data on cropland distribution within the US, I also show that the positive effect was entirely due to better health conditions rather than a greater availability of arable land. No effect is found on agricultural output per capita for more endemic counties, suggesting that the increase in farm output was compensated by the increase in population. Robustness checks from geographic variations in malaria stability within neighboring counties along with placebo treatments reinforce the positive effect of the eradication of malaria in the US on farmer agricultural productivity.
Subjects: 
Malaria
Natural Resources
Agricultural Productivity
JEL: 
I15
N31
N32
O13
Q12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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