Malaria and economic activity: Evidence from US agriculture

I conduct a disaggregated empirical analysis of the relationship between the reduction in malaria transmission and agricultural development in the United States. Exploiting exogenous geographic variations in malaria-suitable weather conditions and using historical county data together with a robust quasi-experimental approach, I show that the farm value per acre of arable land of more endemic counties increased by around eight percentage points after the eradication of the disease relative to less endemic counties. Using historical data on cropland distribution within the United States, I also find that arable land increased in high malaria-risk areas. Finally, I shed light on the increased productivity of farmers as a potential channel. Robustness checks from geographic variations in malaria prevalence within neighboring counties and placebo treatments reinforce the positive effect of eradicating malaria on agricultural development in the United States.