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The long-run heterogeneous effects of a cholera pandemic on stature: Evidence from industrializing Japan

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  • Ogasawara, Kota
  • Inoue, Tatsuki

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic poses the general question on how infectious diseases can persistently affect human health. A growing body of literature has found a significant amount of evidence on the long-term adverse effects of infectious diseases, such as influenza, typhoid fever, and yellow fever. However, we must be careful about the fact that little is known about the long-term consequences of the acute diarrheal disease pandemic cholera – Vibrio cholerae bacillus – which still threatens the health of the population in many developing countries. To bridge this gap in the body of knowledge, we utilized unique census-based data on army height at age 20 in early 20th-century Japan, with a difference-in-differences estimation strategy using regional variation in the intensity of cholera pandemics. We found that early-life exposure to a cholera pandemic had heterogeneous stunting effects on the final height of men; the magnitude of the stunting effects increased as the intensity of exposure increased.

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  • Ogasawara, Kota & Inoue, Tatsuki, 2021. "The long-run heterogeneous effects of a cholera pandemic on stature: Evidence from industrializing Japan," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:41:y:2021:i:c:s1570677x20302380
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100968
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pandemic cholera; Final height; Long-run effect; Heterogeneous treatment effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East

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