Behavioural response to a sudden health risk: Dengue and educational outcomes in Colombia

Kai Barron, Luis Gamboa and Paul Rodriguez-Lesmes
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Paul Andres Rodriguez Lesmes

Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change from WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Abstract: Epidemics tend to have a debilitating influence on the lives of directly afflicted families. However, the presence of an epidemic can also change the behaviour and outcomes of those not directly affected. This paper makes use of a short, sharp, unexpected epidemic to examine the behavioural response of the general public to a sudden shift in the perceived risk to an individual's health and mortality. Our analysis finds that unafflicted school students change their behaviour substantially, affecting important life outcomes. In particular, we find that close to 4 fewer students, out of a typical class of 47 pupils, sit their school leaving examination for every additional 10 cases of severe Dengue per 10 000 inhabitants in a municipality. We rule out several possible mechanisms, leaving an increase in the salience of the disease's risks as a plausible explanation for our findings.

Keywords: Health; health risks; education; human capital; Dengue; Colombia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D80 I12 I15 I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Behavioural Response to a Sudden Health Risk: Dengue and Educational Outcomes in Colombia (2019)
Journal Article: Behavioural Response to a Sudden Health Risk: Dengue and Educational Outcomes in Colombia (2019)
Working Paper: Behavioural Response to a Sudden Health Risk: Dengue and Educational Outcomes in Colombia (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:wzbeoc:spii2017306

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