IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v231y2025ics016726812500037x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Epidemic disease and innovation

Author

Listed:
  • An, Jiafu
  • Chen, Boyang
  • Zhao, Ruoran

Abstract

It is well-documented that the TseTse fly, which transmits an epidemic disease lethal to livestock, has precluded technology adoption in Africa. In this study, we systematically examine the impact of the TseTse fly on firm innovation in modern Africa. Exploiting newly georeferenced firm data across the world, we find that firms in places that satisfy the TseTse survival conditions are less likely to innovate, and this relationship is unique to Africa and more pronounced in industries with higher innovation intensity. Exploring the channel, we find that people hold more hostile attitude towards technology in historically heavily infested areas.

Suggested Citation

  • An, Jiafu & Chen, Boyang & Zhao, Ruoran, 2025. "Epidemic disease and innovation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:231:y:2025:i:c:s016726812500037x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106917
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016726812500037X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106917?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Disease; Innovation; Technology adoption;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    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:eee:jeborg:v:231:y:2025:i:c:s016726812500037x. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    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.