We study whether the eradication of a major infectious disease can accelerate structural change. Exploiting a nationwide malaria campaign in post-war Italy—implemented just as the country entered a period of rapid modernization—we estimate the impact of disease elimination on local labor markets historically burdened by malaria. We assemble a new panel dataset from 1911 to 1981, aggregating municipal-level information into 778 local labor markets. Using a matched difference-in-differences

Tag-uri: Italia