The boll weevil spread across the South from 1892 to 1922 with devastating effect on cotton cultivation. The resulting shift away from this child labor–intensive crop lowered the opportunity cost of school attendance. We investigate the insect’s long-run effect on educational attainment using a sample of adults from the 1940 census linked back to their childhood census records. Both white and black children who were young (ages 4 to 9) when the weevil arrived saw increased educational attainment by 0.24 to 0.36 years. Our results demonstrate the potential for conflict between child labor in agriculture and educational attainment.

中文翻译：

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农业冲击对教育程度的长期影响：来自棉铃象鼻虫的证据

棉铃象鼻虫从 1892 年到 1922 年在南方蔓延，对棉花种植造成破坏性影响。由此产生的从这种童工密集型作物的转变降低了上学的机会成本。我们使用 1940 年人口普查中与儿童人口普查记录相关联的成年人样本来调查这种昆虫对教育程度的长期影响。象鼻虫到达时年幼的白人和黑人儿童（4 至 9 岁）的受教育程度提高了 0.24 至 0.36 岁。我们的研究结果表明，农业童工与教育程度之间存在潜在冲突。