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Malaria: Disease Impacts and Long-Run Income Differences

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The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that malaria, a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, causes over 300 million episodes of "acute illness" and more than one million deaths annually. Most of the deaths occur in poor countries of the tropics, and especially sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the countries with high rates of malaria prevalence are also poor, and some researchers have suggested a direct link from malaria to poverty. This paper explores the potential impact of malaria on national income levels, using a dynamic general equilibrium framework with epidemiological features. We find that if there is no feasible prevention or control, malaria can have a significant impact on income levels. However, if people have any effective way of avoiding infection, the disease impacts on income levels are likely to be small. This is true even where preventive measures are costly.

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  • Douglas Gollin & Christian Zimmermann, 2008. "Malaria: Disease Impacts and Long-Run Income Differences," Department of Economics Working Papers 2008-17, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    • Handle: RePEc:wil:wileco:2008-17
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Development economics needs to refocus on theory
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2009-04-10 18:35:00
    2. Pharmaceutical Patents: Making malaria drugs available at low cost
      by Christian Zimmermann in Against Monopoly on 2009-02-27 19:47:34

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    Cited by:

    1. McNamara, Paul E. & Ulimwengu, John M. & Leonard, Kenneth L., 2010. "Do health investments improve agricultural productivity? Lessons from agricultural household and health research," IFPRI discussion papers 1012, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Pattanayak Subhrendu K. & Ross Martin T. & Depro Brooks M. & Bauch Simone C. & Timmins Christopher & Wendland Kelly J. & Alger Keith, 2009. "Climate Change and Conservation in Brazil: CGE Evaluation of Health and Wealth Impacts," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(2), pages 1-44, September.
    3. Rodolfo Manuelli & Emircan Yurdagul, 2021. "AIDS, Human Capital and Development," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 42, pages 178-193, October.
    4. Gollin, Douglas & Zimmermann, Christian, 2010. "Global Climate Change and the Resurgence of Tropical Disease: An Economic Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 5042, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Jean-Claude Berthélemy & Josselin Thuilliez & Ogobara Doumbo & Jean Gaudart, 2013. "Malaria and protective behaviours: is there a malaria trap?," Post-Print inserm-00838508, HAL.
    6. Shufang Zhang & Marcia C. Castro & David Canning, 2011. "The Effect of Malaria on Settlement and Land Use: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," PGDA Working Papers 7711, Program on the Global Demography of Aging.
    7. Weil, David N., 2014. "Health and Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 3, pages 623-682, Elsevier.
    8. Douglas Gollin & Christian Zimmermann, 2012. "Global Climate Change, the Economy, and the Resurgence of Tropical Disease," Mathematical Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 51-62, January.
    9. Rodolfo E. Manuelli, 2011. "Disease and Development: The Role of Human Capital," 2011 Meeting Papers 605, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Flückiger, Matthias & Ludwig, Markus, 2017. "Malaria suitability, urbanization and persistence: Evidence from China over more than 2000 years," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 146-160.
    11. Wielgosz, Benjamin & Mangheni, Margaret Najjingo & Tsegai, Daniel & Ringler, Claudia, 2012. "Malaria and agriculture: A global review of the literature with a focus on the application of integrated pest and vector management in East Africa and Uganda," IFPRI discussion papers 1232, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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