Abstract:

In the early 20th century, the Japanese colonial government initiated an island-wide malaria eradication campaign in Taiwan, resulting in not only a fast decline in malaria across time but also elimination of disparity across regions. Exploiting variations in malaria deaths around birth caused by the campaign, we estimate the causal effects of malaria exposure in early life on education and health of the elderly. To mitigate potential biases caused by measurement errors and omitted confounders, we employ climatic factors to instrument for malaria deaths. Our findings suggest that people who were exposed to a high malaria risk in the critical period around birth have lower life-time educational attainment and worse health outcomes at old age as reflected in worse cognitive function, a higher likelihood of cardiovascular and lung diseases and a higher mortality hazard. Our findings support the fetal origins hypothesis