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LONG-TERM EXPOSURE TO MALARIA AND DEVELOPMENT: DISAGGREGATE EVIDENCE FOR CONTEMPORANEOUS AFRICA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2017

Matteo Cervellati ,
Elena Esposito  and
Uwe Sunde
Matteo Cervellati*
Affiliation:
University of Bologna, IZA and CESIfo
Elena Esposito
Affiliation:
DEEP – HEC Lausanne
Uwe Sunde
Affiliation:
LMU, IZA, CESIfo and CEPR
*
Address correspondence to: Matteo Cervellati, Department of Economics, University of Bologna. Piazza Scaravilli, 2 40136 BolognaItaly; e-mail: m.cervellati@unibo.it
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Abstract:

Malaria afflicts mankind since thousands of years and still imposes serious health impediments and considerable mortality on the affected populations. Empirical investigations of the role of malaria for economic development at the country level deliver mixed findings, however. We study the role of long-term malaria exposure on development today using disaggregate within-country variation for the whole of Africa with 1 × 1 degree cells as units of observation. Local development is measured by light density at night. Based on insights from epidemiology, which documents that genetic and acquired immunities reduce Malaria risk for adults in holoendemic areas, the effect is hypothesized to be nonlinear, with a peak for intermediate rather than high exposure to the pathogen. The empirical findings support this hypothesis. The results also suggest the existence of a significant moderating effect of genetic immunities measured by the prevalence of the sickle cell trait in the population.

Keywords

Long-term exposure to malariaacquired immunitiesgenetic immunitiesnight lights per capitadisaggregated data AfricaJ1I15and C13
Type
Essays
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 83 , Issue 1: Short Essays on African Demography and Economic Development , March 2017 , pp. 129 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2017 

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Footnotes

Prepared for the Special Section of African Demography and Economic Development of the Journal of Demographic Economics.

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