The state of Georgia allocated most of its land to the public through a system of lotteries. These episodes provide unusual opportunities to assess the long-term impact of large shocks to wealth, as winning was uncorrelated with individual characteristics and participation was nearly universal...

This study examines a wide range of health and economic outcomes in a sample of Irish- and African-American Civil War veterans during the postbellum period. The information in our data is from a variety of circumstances across an individual's life span, and we use that to attempt to explain...

While increasing years of schooling has been a long-standing development priority, the associated fiscal costs and benefits have been less studied, because of lack of appropriate data. Recently an UNESCO funded projected measured subsidies, by level of schooling, from all levels of government,...

We examine portage sites in the U.S. South, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest, including those on the fall line, a geomorphologic feature in the southeastern U.S. marking the final rapids on rivers before the ocean. Historically, waterborne transport of goods required portage around the falls at these...

Through designs akin to difference-in-differences, Bleakley (2007) produces evidence that the cam- paign to eradicate hookworm from the American South circa 1910 boosted school enrollment in childhood and income in adulthood. This comment works to replicate and reanalyze that study. Innovations...