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Title: Nutrition, Education and Development: The Case of Vitamin D

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2010

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Abstract: Micronutrient deficiencies that reduce the health of children risk impeding human capitalinvestments critical for economic development. While the developed world has largely eliminatedthe most pernicious of these deficiencies, they remain widespread in poorer countries. This studylooks at the effects of the introduction of fortified milk, which contributed to the decline of one suchmicronutrient deficiency in the United States: vitamin D. At the time of vitamin D milksintroduction in the early 1930s, vitamin D deficiency, manifested most prominently in the form ofrickets, affected large numbers of children. Using previously unexamined historical sources, Icompile and introduce an original dataset describing the rollout of vitamin D fortified milk acrossthe United States throughout the decade. I then use this dataset to examine the impact of fortifiedmilk on schooling. The gradual expansion of vitamin D milk, along with natural variation insusceptibility to vitamin D deficiency due to geographic and racial factors, permits the identificationof fortifications impact from other regional and temporal trends. Using a difference-in-differencein-difference (DDD) estimator, I find that the availability of vitamin D milk increased schooling forthe group at highest risk for vitamin D deficiency: African-American children from cities with lowsunlight. A variety of sensitivity tests supports the validity of the results. They indicate that largescale food fortification initiatives merit further consideration from economists and policy makersconcerned with achieving development outcomes.

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Authors: Schwab, Benjamin

Publisher: University of Wisconsin

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Health

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