Long-run Health Repercussions of Drought Shocks: Evidence from South African Homelands

I present new evidence from Africa that droughts are an important component of long-run variation in health human capital. Using Census data, I estimate effects of early childhood drought exposure on later-life disabilities among South Africans confined to homelands during apartheid. By exploiting 40 years of quasi-random variation in local droughts experienced by different cohorts in different districts, I find that drought exposure in infancy raises later-life disability rates by 3.5-5.2%, with effects concentrated in physical and mental disabilities, and largest for males. My findings are relevant for low-income settings where avoiding droughts through migration is costly.