Starting in 1998, Michael Kremer and I evaluated a large-scale public health program that provided an additional 2-3 years of medical treatment for intestinal worm infections to tens of thousands of Kenyan primary school children. [1/5 thread]

20 years later (!), our newest findings w/ coauthors @mwwalkerecon, Sarah Baird, and Joan Hamory show that the same individuals (now adults) have higher household earnings, spend more on consumption goods, and are more likely to live in urban areas. [2/5]

For <$0.50 per child per year, the observed gains imply that deworming medication has an enormous social rate of return. This research is a timely reminder that public investments in proven health solutions can have immense payoffs. [3/5]

The results (which we released today) show that school-based deworming can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life. With countries in #Covid19 crisis mode, our findings emphasize the urgent need to sustain critical child assistance programs delivered through schools. [4/5]

Read the new results here on my website: http://emiguel.econ.berkeley.edu/research/twenty-year-economic-impacts-of-deworming">https://emiguel.econ.berkeley.edu/research/...
or in the NBER working paper series:
https://www.nber.org/papers/w27611 
Also">https://www.nber.org/papers/w2... check out the Berkeley News summary:
https://news.berkeley.edu/ ">https://news.berkeley.edu/">...
@CEGA_UC [5/5 end thread]

Here is the @UCBerkeley News piece on our new research: https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/08/03/treating-children-for-worms-yields-long-term-benefits-says-new-study/">https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/08/0...