TY  - JOUR
AU  - McCarthy,Desmond
AU  - Wolf,Holger
AU  - Wu,Yi
TI  - The Growth Costs of Malaria
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7541
PY  - 2000
Y2  - February 2000
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7541
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7541.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Holger C. Wolf
Center for German and European Studies
ICC-503
School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
Washington, DC  20057
Tel: 202/687-8079
Fax: 202/687-8359
E-Mail: moneyhist@aol.com
AB  - Malaria ranks among the foremost health issues facing tropical countries. In this paper, we explore the determinants of cross-country differences in malaria morbidity, and examine the linkage between malaria and economic growth. Using a classification rule analysis, we confirm the dominant role of climate in accounting for cross-country differences in malaria morbidity. The data, however, do not suggest that tropical location is destiny: controlling for climate, we find that access to rural healthcare and income equality influence malaria morbidity. In a cross-section growth framework, we find a significant negative association between higher malaria morbidity and the growth rate of GDP per capita which is robust to a number of modifications, including controlling for reverse causation. The estimated absolute growth impact of malaria differs sharply across countries; it exceeds a quarter percent per annum in a quarter of the sample countries. Most of these are located in Sub-Saharan Africa (with an estimated average annual growth reduction of 0.55 percent).
ER  -