The long term benefits of the measles vaccine in Mexico

Abstract

We investigate the impacts on education and employment of a reduction in measles stemming from a nationwide immunization program in Mexico. The program lead to significant improvements in childhood health as measles causes “immune amnesia”, leaving individuals susceptible to illness from other diseases. We find the measles vaccine led to large increases in educational attainment for both men and women, with the effects being concentrated in lower secondary school for women and split between lower and upper secondary school for men. Labor market outcomes also improved with women experiencing large increases in employment and men seeing significant gains in income.