IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/afrdev/v31y2019i2p167-178.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Productivity in the Formal Food Sector Drive Human Ebola Virus Infections in Sub‐Saharan Africa?

Author

Listed:
  • Gregory N. Price

Abstract

As the hunting, butchering, processing, and consumption of bushmeat is a potential source of human Ebola virus (EV) infections, the extent to which bushmeat is a substitute for food produced and sold in the formal sector suggests that the relative price of food could matter for the incidence of human EV infections. This paper considers if productivity in the food sector is a driver of human EV infections in sub‐Saharan Africa. We estimate count data specifications of country level human EV infections as a function of food sector productivity in sub‐Saharan Africa over the 1976–2013 time period. Our parameter estimates suggest that if productivity in the food sector was on average 1 per cent higher over the 1976–2013 time period, the incidence of human EV infection would have been 42.5 per cent lower. This is consistent with bushmeat being a substitute for food produced in the formal sector, as food productivity increases lower the price of formal food relative to bushmeat. Our findings suggest that as productivity in the formal food sector is a driver of human EV infections in sub‐Saharan Africa, policy interventions that increase food productivity would enable Millennium Development Goal outcomes related to hunger, disease mitigation, and sustainability of wildlife.

Suggested Citation

  • Gregory N. Price, 2019. "Does Productivity in the Formal Food Sector Drive Human Ebola Virus Infections in Sub‐Saharan Africa?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 31(2), pages 167-178, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:afrdev:v:31:y:2019:i:2:p:167-178
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8268.12375
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8268.12375
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8268.12375?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. United Nations UN, 2015. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015," Working Papers id:7097, eSocialSciences.
    2. Sarah Brown & Alan Duncan & Mark N. Harris & Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2015. "A Zero-Inflated Regression Model for Grouped Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(6), pages 822-831, December.
    3. Uche M. Ozughalu & Fidelis O. Ogwumike, 2013. "Vulnerability to Food Poverty in Nigeria," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 25(3), pages 243-255, September.
    4. Thompson, Samuel B., 2011. "Simple formulas for standard errors that cluster by both firm and time," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 1-10, January.
    5. Mullahy, John, 1986. "Specification and testing of some modified count data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 341-365, December.
    6. Harris, Mark N. & Zhao, Xueyan, 2007. "A zero-inflated ordered probit model, with an application to modelling tobacco consumption," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 1073-1099, December.
    7. Andrea Beccarini, 2010. "Eliminating the omitted variable bias by a regime-switching approach," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 57-75.
    8. Rentsch, Dennis & Damon, Amy, 2013. "Prices, poaching, and protein alternatives: An analysis of bushmeat consumption around Serengeti National Park, Tanzania," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-9.
    9. Ravinder Rena, 2005. "Challenges for Food Security in Eritrea: A Descriptive and Qualitative Analysis," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 193-212.
    10. Patrick Puhani, 2000. "The Heckman Correction for Sample Selection and Its Critique," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 53-68, February.
    11. William H. Greene, 1994. "Accounting for Excess Zeros and Sample Selection in Poisson and Negative Binomial Regression Models," Working Papers 94-10, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    12. Robert Fogel & Dora Costa, 1997. "A theory of technophysio evolution, with some implications for forecasting population, health care costs, and pension costs," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 34(1), pages 49-66, February.
    13. Julius A. Agbor & Gregory N. Price, 2014. "Does Famine Matter for Aggregate Adolescent Human Capital Acquisition in Sub-Saharan Africa?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(3), pages 454-467, September.
    14. Morra, Wayne & Hearn, Gail & Buck, Andrew J., 2009. "The market for bushmeat: Colobus Satanas on Bioko Island," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2619-2626, August.
    15. United Nations UN, 2015. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015," Working Papers id:7222, eSocialSciences.
    16. World Bank, 2014. "World Development Indicators 2014," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18237.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liette Vasseur & Heather VanVolkenburg & Isabelle Vandeplas & Katim Touré & Safiétou Sanfo & Fatoumata Lamarana Baldé, 2021. "The Effects of Pandemics on the Vulnerability of Food Security in West Africa—A Scoping Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-12, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cristian Roner & Claudia Di Caterina & Davide Ferrari, 2021. "Exponential Tilting for Zero-inflated Interval Regression with Applications to Cyber Security Survey Data," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS85, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    2. Sophia Kan & Stephan Klasen, 2021. "Evaluating universal primary education in Uganda: School fee abolition and educational outcomes," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 116-147, February.
    3. William Greene & Mark N. Harris & Preety Srivastava & Xueyan Zhao, 2018. "Misreporting and econometric modelling of zeros in survey data on social bads: An application to cannabis consumption," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 372-389, February.
    4. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Savoia, Antonio, 2018. "Poverty reduction during 1990–2013: Did millennium development goals adoption and state capacity matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 70-82.
    5. William Greene, 2009. "Models for count data with endogenous participation," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 133-173, February.
    6. Price Gregory N. & Elu Juliet U., 2017. "Climate Change and Cross-State Islamist Terrorism in Nigeria," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 23(3), pages 1-13, August.
    7. Sirchenko Andrei, 2012. "A model for ordinal responses with an application to policy interest rate," EERC Working Paper Series 12/13e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    8. Caroline Jennings Saul & Heiko Gebauer, 2018. "Digital Transformation as an Enabler for Advanced Services in the Sanitation Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Bruno F. Sunguya & Yue Ge & Linda B. Mlunde & Rose Mpembeni & Germana H. Leyna & Krishna C. Poudel & Niyati Parekh & Jiayan Huang, 2022. "Targeted and Population-Wide Interventions Are Needed to Address the Persistent Burden of Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age in Tanzania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-12, July.
    10. Valensisi, Giovanni & Gauci, Adrian, 2013. "Graduated without passing? The employment dimension and LDCs' prospects under the Istanbul Programme of Action," MPRA Paper 86966, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Greene, William, 2007. "Functional Form and Heterogeneity in Models for Count Data," Foundations and Trends(R) in Econometrics, now publishers, vol. 1(2), pages 113-218, August.
    12. Christopher J. W. Zorn, 1998. "An Analytic and Empirical Examination of Zero-Inflated and Hurdle Poisson Specifications," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 26(3), pages 368-400, February.
    13. Lisa F. Clark, 2018. "Policy conflicts in global food assistance strategies: balancing local procurement and harmonization," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(1), pages 211-222, February.
    14. Jussi T. S. Heikkila, 2020. "Classifying economics for the common good: Connecting sustainable development goals to JEL codes," Papers 2004.04384, arXiv.org.
    15. Menon Martina & Perali Federico & Veronesi Marcella, 2017. "“Leaving No Child Behind:” Preferences for Social Inclusion and Altruism," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 1-19, July.
    16. Shannon L. Sibbald & Nicole Haggerty, 2019. "Integrating Business and Medical Pedagogy to Accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals," Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, , vol. 13(1), pages 92-101, March.
    17. Santangelo, Grazia D., 2018. "The impact of FDI in land in agriculture in developing countries on host country food security," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 75-84.
    18. Rachel Mason-Jones & Paul G. Davies & Andrew Thomas, 2022. "Applying the Theory of Constraints to Explore the UK Renewable-Energy Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-18, October.
    19. José Antonio Rodriguez Martin & Juan Dios Jiménez Aguilera & José María Martín Martín & José Antonio Salinas Fernández, 2018. "Crisis in the Horn of Africa: Measurement of Progress Towards Millennium Development Goals," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 499-514, January.
    20. Donatella Saccone, 2021. "Can the Covid19 pandemic affect the achievement of the ‘Zero Hunger’ goal? Some preliminary reflections," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(7), pages 1025-1038, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:afrdev:v:31:y:2019:i:2:p:167-178. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afdbgci.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.