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Traditional Leaders and the 2014-2015 Ebola Epidemic

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  • van der Windt, Peter Cornelis
  • Voors, Maarten

    (Wageningen University)

Abstract

We assess the role of traditional authorities during an acute health crisis, the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone. We exploit plausible exogenous variation in the political competition for local chieftaincy positions and find evidence that traditional leaders helped shape the course of the epidemic. Locations with more “powerful” chiefs experienced substantially fewer recorded Ebola cases. We argue that this result is consistent with a view of traditional authorities as ‘stationary bandits’, where leaders are locally embedded and thus benefited directly from controlling the spread of the disease. Subsequently, control measures were most effectively implemented by more powerful chiefs.

Suggested Citation

  • van der Windt, Peter Cornelis & Voors, Maarten, 2020. "Traditional Leaders and the 2014-2015 Ebola Epidemic," SocArXiv jaqr2, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:jaqr2
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/jaqr2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nathan Nunn & Diego Puga, 2012. "Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 20-36, February.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Tristan Reed & James A. Robinson, 2014. "Chiefs: Economic Development and Elite Control of Civil Society in Sierra Leone," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(2), pages 319-368.
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