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THREE ESSAYS ON HEALTH ECONOMICS

Liu, Ying (2022) THREE ESSAYS ON HEALTH ECONOMICS. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This thesis contains three essays on health economics. The first chapter studies the world’s first Community HealthWorkers (CHWs) program—China’s Barefoot Doctors(1969-
1985). Using data collected and digitized from China’s historical gazetteers, I find that exposure to barefoot doctors significantly reduced infant and under-5 mortality rate. I also shed light on the underlying mechanism, and find evidence consist with breastfeeding playing an important role. The second chapter looks further at the long-term impacts of the Barefoot Doctor project. I find that in utero and early childhood access to Barefoot Doctors significantly improves self-reported health, boosts educational attainment, and increases working hour nearly 40 years after the program. This provides one of the first empirical evidence on the long-term impacts of CHWs. The third chapter looks at China’s 1966-1968 epidemic meningitis outbreak which infected over 3 million people and caused the deaths of more than 160 thousands. Anecdotal evidence shows that the Revolutionary Tour — a nationwide movement that encourages a large-scale population mobilization at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, exacerbated the epidemic. Using data from gazetteers on the county level epidemic meningitis cases, I find that places closer to the railroads have significantly higher density of cases at the beginning of the epidemic in 1966, especially the railroads on the Revolutionary Tour route.


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Liu, Yingyil186@pitt.eduyil1860000-0001-7917-9418
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee MemberGiuntella, Oseaosea.giuntella@pitt.edu
Committee ChairBerkowitz, Danieldmberk@pitt.edu
Committee MemberDequennois, Claireced87@pitt.educed87
Committee MemberShamdasani, Yogitayogita@nus.edu.sg
Date: 13 August 2022
Date Type: Publication
Defense Date: 28 July 2022
Approval Date: 4 December 2024
Submission Date: 2 August 2022
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Number of Pages: 69
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Economics
Degree: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: health economics, China, community health workers, barefoot doctor program, the Cultural Revolution, epidemic meningitis.
Date Deposited: 04 Dec 2024 16:54
Last Modified: 04 Dec 2024 18:00
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/43623

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