Battling Infection, Fighting Stagnation

Shankha Chakraborty, Chris Papageorgiou () and Fidel Perez Sebastian

University of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers from University of Oregon Economics Department

Abstract: Why are some countries mired in poverty and ill health? Can policy facilitate their transition to sustained growth and better living standards? We offer answers using a dynamic model of disease and development. Endogenous transmission of infectious disease generates non-ergodic growth where income alone cannot push a country out of a low-growth development trap. Policy interventions, for example external aid, can successfully accelerate growth only when directed towards improving health and eliminating the burden of infectious disease. Prioritizing improvements to adult mortality over morbidity is better for development.

Keywords: Infectious Disease; Morbidity; Mortality; Productivity; Policy Analysis. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O11 O40 O47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25
Date: 2010-09-09
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://economics.uoregon.edu/papers/UO-2010-11_Chakraborty_Diseases_Policy.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ore:uoecwp:2010-11

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in University of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers from University of Oregon Economics Department Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bill Harbaugh ().