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The Rise and Fall of Pellagra in the American South

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  • Clay, Karen
  • Schmick, Ethan
  • Troesken, Werner

Abstract

Focusing on the first half of the twentieth century, we explore the rise and fall of pellagra (a disease caused by inadequate niacin consumption) in the American South. We first consider the hypothesis that the South’s monoculture in cotton undermined nutrition by displacing local food production. Consistent with this hypothesis, a difference in differences estimation shows that after the arrival of the boll weevil, food production in affected counties rose while cotton production and pellagra rates fell. The results also suggest that after 1937 improved medical understanding and state fortification laws helped eliminate pellagra.

Suggested Citation

  • Clay, Karen & Schmick, Ethan & Troesken, Werner, 2019. "The Rise and Fall of Pellagra in the American South," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(1), pages 32-62, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:79:y:2019:i:01:p:32-62_00
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    2. Achyuta Adhvaryu & Steven Bednar & Teresa Molina & Quynh Nguyen & Anant Nyshadham, 2020. "When It Rains It Pours: The Long-Run Economic Impacts of Salt Iodization in the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(2), pages 395-407, May.
    3. Marein, Brian, 2023. "Public health departments and the mortality transition in Latin America: Evidence from Puerto Rico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Philipp Ager & Benedikt Herz & Markus Brueckner, 2020. "Structural Change and the Fertility Transition," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 806-822, October.
    5. Muller, Christopher & Schrage, Daniel, 2019. "The Political Economy of Incarceration in the Cotton South, 1910-1925," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt7nb8p8bx, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    6. Muller, Christopher, 2019. "The Political Economy of Incarceration in the U.S. South, 1910-1925. Working Paper #105-19," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt0758z6m3, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N52 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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