Malaria and growth

F. Desmond McCarthy, Holger Wolf and Yi Wu

No 2303, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: The authors explore the two-sided link between malaria morbidity and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita growth. Climate significantly affects cross-country differences in malaria morbidity. Tropical location is not destiny, however: greater access to rural health care and greater income equality are associated with lower malaria morbidity. But the interpretation of this link is ambiguous: does greater income inequality allow for improved anti-malaria efforts, or does malaria itself increase income inequality? Allowing for two-sided causation, the authors find a significant negative causal effect running from malaria morbidity to the growth rate of GDP per capita. In about a quarter of their sample countries, malaria is estimated to reduce GDP per capita growth by at least 0.25 percentage point a year.

Keywords: Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Public Health Promotion; Disease Control&Prevention; Early Child and Children's Health; Climate Change; Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Early Child and Children's Health; Climate Change; Poverty and Health; Health Service Management and Delivery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000-03-31
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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