Sok Chul Hong

This article uses nineteenth-century evidence to calculate the impact of early exposure to malaria-ridden environments on nutritional status and the immune system in America. I estimate the risk of contracting malarial fevers in the 1850s by using correlations between malaria and environmental factors such as climate and geographical features. The study demonstrates that Union Army recruits who spent their early years in malaria-endemic counties were 1.1 inches shorter at enlistment due to malnu

Using longitudinal data linked to the 1850 and 1860 U.S. federal census manuscript schedules, this article examines the effect of migration to high-risk malaria counties on real estate wealth accumulation. Although the migrants recognized the risk of malaria, they still migrated to malarial regions. Those who migrated to areas with higher risk of malaria experienced smaller increases in real estate wealth than migrants to less malarial areas. The findings in this study provide historical evidenc

We examine college students' interaction within classrooms and estimate peer effects on their academic performance. We exploit a unique seating rule at a university in South Korea, known as the fixed-seat system. We propose a novel identification strategy based on students' repeated interaction. Our findings show that a student's performance in a class is significantly influenced by his or her next-seat neighbor's ability. The effect is heterogeneous, varying by student and class characteristics

An important unknown in understanding the impact of climate change is the scope of adaptation, which requires observations on historical time scales. We consider how weather across U.S. history (1860-2000) has affected various measures of productivity. Using cross-sectional and panel methods, we document significant responses of agricultural and individual productivity to weather. We find strong effects of hotter and wetter weather early in U.S. history, but these effects have been attenuated in

Research reported in this article was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2016S1A3A2924944), the Institute of Economic Research (Center for Distributive Justice) at Seoul National University, and Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2014-KFR-123001).

We attempt to identify the population who are vulnerable to emotional shocks by exploiting an unprecedented series of celebrity suicides in South Korea during the last decade, including one of the most famous actresses, as well as a former president. Our conservative estimates show that for 5 out of 11 celebrity suicides observed, 1 celebrity suicide on average yielded to more than 10 excessive suicides per day over a time frame of at least 2 weeks. The results indicate that a significant number

The influenza pandemic of 1918 drastically affected colonial Korea infecting approximately 7.4 million people (44.3% of the total population) and killing approximately 140,000. This study examines the effect of fetal exposure to the pandemic on educational attainment, specifically, years of schooling and literacy among the 1910 to 1929 birth cohort found in the 1960 Korean population census. Using the difference-in-differences approach, we found that fetal exposure substantially deteriorated edu

The proportion of overweight Americans has increased over the past three decades. This increase has implications for policymakers and researchers who are concerned about future increases in health and economic burdens. However, between 1980 and 2009 the health burdens among overweight people, measured by activity limitation, declined significantly. It is our purpose to quantify this recent progress, particularly in respect to the role of income growth. We argue that the health-care market has be

This study investigates the long-term effect of fetal exposure to the 1974 Tornado Super Outbreak. Using the 2008–2017 American Community Survey and a difference-in-differences framework, we estimate the adverse effects of this stressful in-utero shock on health and socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood. The effects explain 7% of the average probability of having at least one physical/cognitive difficulty and are robust to selection and migration issues. We find weaker effects on adulthood socioec

Artemisia Annua, Artemisinin, ACTs, and Malaria Control in Africa: Tradition, Science, and Public Policy. By Dana G. Dalrymple. Washington DC: Politics and Prose. 2012. Pp. 254. $18.00, paper. - Volume 74 Issue 1

This study investigates whether changes in risk perception play a critical role in improving of preventive behaviors and health outcomes by examining the 2009 H1N1 influenza (or swine flu) pandemic in Korea. We employ a difference-in-differences estimation strategy by comparing the differential effects of the H1N1 outbreak on the confirmed cases of diseases which can be prevented by preventive behaviors (e.g., intestinal infections) and the cases of diseases which cannot (e.g., injuries). Using