The shadow of the epidemic: Long-term impacts of meningitis exposure on risk preference and behaviors

Guanfu Fang, Wei Li and Ying Zhu

World Development, 2022, vol. 157, issue C

Abstract: This study investigates the long-term effects of exposure to infectious disease on individuals’ risk preference and behaviors. Using nationally representative datasets in China, we adopt a difference-in-differences strategy to evaluate the long-term impacts of exposure to China’s 1967 meningitis epidemic. We find that intense exposure to the meningitis epidemic during childhood led to increased risk aversion. In addition, we show that exposure to the meningitis epidemic decreased risky behaviors, including financial investment, credit card usage, entrepreneurship, and migration. Our study may have broad implications for economic–epidemic modeling and post-epidemic assistance programs.

Keywords: Early-life exposure; Long-term effect; Meningitis epidemic; Risk preference; Risky behaviors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:157:y:2022:i:c:s0305750x22001279

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.105937

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