The United States dropped three times the total tonnage used in both World War II and the Korean War on Vietnam and sprayed 20 million gallons of herbicides on South Vietnam during the Second Indochina War (also known as the “Vietnam War” or the “Resistance War against America”), making it one of the most disastrous wars in the 20th century.
While bombing has been shown to not have long-term impacts on Vietnam, how does historical herbicide exposure affect current education and employment outcomes? Using an instrumental variable approach based on district proximity to the closest National Liberation Front or Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army base, I find that herbicide exposure leads to fewer years of schooling and a higher likelihood of being unemployed. The main mechanism lies in herbicides’ environmental effects, which present nutrient challenges, limit career options, and hinder the district’s catch-up growth. The environmental effects persist because the rice-destroying chemical is enduring in the environment, and large-scale spraying missions destroy biodiversity and inhibit sustainable environment regeneration.
