Full Citation

Title: Hookworm Eradication as a Natural Experiment for Schooling and Voting in the American South

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2018

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: Educational attainment is robustly associated with greater political participation, yet the causal nature of this finding remains contested. To assess this relationship, I leverage a natural experiment in the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission’s (RSC) anti-hookworm campaign, which exogenously expanded primary and secondary education in the early-twentieth century American South. I evaluate two RSC hookworm interventions: exposure to the campaign and proportion treated. I use genetic matching to control for observable factors that influenced the haphazard dispensing of treatment, and implement new matching methods for continuous campaign interventions. I also use a variety of methods to assess the robustness of the results to a number of alternative accounts. Throughout, I find a consistent positive effect of education on participation, suggesting additional evidence for a causal interpretation of the ‘education effect’.

Url: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-017-9408-6

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Henderson, John, A

Periodical (Full): Political Behavior

Issue: 2

Volume: 40

Pages: 467-494

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Health, Other

Countries: