Unhooking the past: Early-life exposure to hookworm eradication and later-life longevity
中文摘要
本研究考察洛克菲勒卫生委员会（RSC）于 1910 年代在美国南部发起的钩虫根除运动对晚年寿命的长期影响。我们利用与社会保障局死亡记录相链接的 1940 年全量人口普查数据，采用双向固定效应方法，考察生命早期接触该根除运动对晚年结果的影响。我们发现，县级处理强度每增加一个标准差，在胎儿期及生命早期接触 RSC 运动的个体寿命约增加 1.3 个月。这一效应在非白人族群、母亲为文盲的儿童以及出生于城市地区的个体中显著更大。此外，我们提供了钩虫根除对寿命影响存在动态互补性的证据，即在受罗森瓦尔德学校建设运动影响的县以及童工法更为严格的州，所观察到的效应更大。利用 1940 年人口普查数据和二战入伍数据，我们提供了教育程度、收入和认知能力改善作为可能路径的提示性证据。我们的发现为有关生命早期公共卫生干预持久效应的文献作出了贡献，并凸显了此类项目在应对当今全球健康挑战中的重要性。
Abstract
This study examines the long-term effects of the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission’s (RSC) hookworm eradication campaign, initiated in the American South in the 1910s, on old-age longevity. Utilizing Social Security Administration death records linked to the 1940 full-count census, we employ a two-way fixed effect approach to examine the effects of early-life exposure to the eradication campaign on later-life outcomes. We find that individuals exposed to the RSC campaign during in-utero and early life experience an increase of approximately 1.3 months in longevity for a one–standard-deviation increase in county-level treatment intensity. The effects are substantially larger among nonwhites, children of illiterate mothers, and those born in urban areas. Moreover, we provide evidence of dynamic complementarity in the effects of hookworm eradication on longevity, with larger effects observed in counties exposed to the Rosenwald school construction movement and in states with more stringent child labor laws. Using the 1940 census and World War II enlistment data, we provide suggestive evidence of improvements in educational attainment, income, and cognitive ability as possible pathways. Our findings contribute to the literature on the lasting effects of early-life public health interventions and underscore the importance of such programs in addressing present-day global health challenges.