Malaria and Growth

McCarthy, F. Desmond ; Wolf, Holger ; Wu, Yi

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: CLIMATE;    CLIMATE VARIABLES;    CLIMATIC CHANGE;    COMMUNICABLE DISEASES;    DIARRHEA;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2303
RP-ID  :  WPS2303

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The authors explore the two-sided linkbetween malaria morbidity and Gross Domestic Product (GDP)per capita growth. Climate significantly affectscross-country differences in malaria morbidity. Tropicallocation is not destiny, however: greater access to ruralhealth care and greater income equality are associated withlower malaria morbidity. But the interpretation of this linkis ambiguous: does greater income inequality allow forimproved anti-malaria efforts, or does malaria itselfincrease income inequality? Allowing for two-sidedcausation, the authors find a significant negative causaleffect running from malaria morbidity to the growth rate ofGDP per capita. In about a quarter of their samplecountries, malaria is estimated to reduce GDP per capitagrowth by at least 0.25 percentage point a year.