Lecture 4- "Hookworm infection" -Bleakley, 2007)

Question 1

What was the main goal of the paper?

Answer 1

To estimate the impact on educational outcome of the Hookworm infection being eradicated in the US.

Question 2

Describe the data set?

Answer 2

Between 1910 and 1914 the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission recorded the level of hookworm infection across children in the south.

Also, the census was used to record socio-economic data.

Question 3

How was Hookwom managed in the experiment?

Answer 3

Deworming pills were made available

Question 4

What was the regression used?

Answer 4

Yijt= a+B1(Hj Pre*Post t)+ δt+δj+TXijt+eijt

Yijt denotes the educational outcome (school enrollment ,attendance and literacy) of child I in area j at time t.

Hj denotes the level of Hookworm infection in area j before the RSC intervention. Post t is a dummy variable for if the year is beyond the RSC intervention of 1910-1915.
B tells how the educational outcome responds to the intervention based on the severity of hookworm before intervention

Question 5

What were the main results of the paper?

Answer 5

That areas with higher levels of Hookworm before the RSC anti-hookworm campaign saw the greatest improvement in education outcomes (school attendance, literacy) as they had the greatest potential for improvement.