Economics & Finance / Economic Theory / Development Economics
How a 1960s Drought in South Africa Caused 20% Male Disability – The Hidden Cost of Travel Bans
Imagine a drought in South Africa causing a 20% spike in severe male disabilities decades later—not because of the lack of rain, but because of a law that locked people in place. In this video, we break down a landmark study by economist Taryn Dinkelman from Dartmouth College, published as NBER Working Paper No. 19756, which reveals how apartheid-era travel bans in the TBVC homelands turned a natural disaster into a permanent health crisis. Using data from over 1,000 weather stations and the 1996 census, Dinkelman shows that boys born during droughts in restricted areas faced double the risk of blindness, paralysis, or deafness. The culprit? A passport system that prevented fathers from migrating to cities for work, cutting off the cash remittances that could have bought food. When the bans were lifted in 1986, the disability gap vanished overnight. This isn’t just history—it’s a warning for today’s border policies. Watch to see how mobility, or lack thereof, shapes our bodies and futures.
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