Research Paper SSRN Research Paper Series
Shadows of the captain of the men of death: health innovation, human capital investment, and institutions
Authors
Publication date
2015
Summary
We leverage introduction of the first antibiotic therapies in 1937 to examine impacts of pneumonia in infancy on adult education, employment, disability, income and income mobility, and identify large impacts on each. We then examine how racial segregation in the pre-Civil Rights Era moderated the long-run benefits of antibiotics among blacks. We find that blacks born in more segregated states reaped smaller and less pervasive long run benefits despite sharp drops in pneumonia exposure. Our findings demonstrate causal effects of early life health on economic mobility and the importance of an investment-rewarding institutional environment in realization of the full potential of a healthy start.
Subjects
Human Capital, Medicine, Child Development, Ethnic Groups, Health, Life Course Analysis, Race Relations, and Social Mobility
Links
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1940725
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