IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jhecon/v32y2013i3p612-632.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Malaria: An early indicator of later disease and work level

Author

Listed:
  • Hong, Sok Chul

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of early-life exposure to malaria on disease and work level in old age over the past one and a half centuries. Using longitudinal lifetime records of Union Army veterans, I first estimate that exposure to a malarial environment in early life (c.1840) substantially increased the likelihood of having various chronic diseases and not working in old age (c.1900). Second, from data on US cohorts born between 1891 and 1960, I find that those exposed to a higher level of the anti-malaria campaign, which began in 1921, had lower levels of work disability in old age. Third, I seek the same implications for the modern period by linking WHO's country statistics on DALYs among older populations in 2004 to country-level malaria risk in pre-eradication era. In the paper, I discuss possible mechanisms and propose the significance of malaria eradication and early-life conditions from a long-term perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Hong, Sok Chul, 2013. "Malaria: An early indicator of later disease and work level," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 612-632.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:32:y:2013:i:3:p:612-632
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.03.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629613000349
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.03.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson, 2007. "Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(6), pages 925-985, December.
    2. Douglas Almond & Lena Edlund & Mårten Palme, 2009. "Chernobyl's Subclinical Legacy: Prenatal Exposure to Radioactive Fallout and School Outcomes in Sweden," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 124(4), pages 1729-1772.
    3. Janet Currie, 2009. "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 87-122, March.
    4. Amar Hamoudi & Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1999. "The Changing Global Distribution of Malaria: A Review," CID Working Papers 2, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    5. Gabriella Conti & James Heckman & Sergio Urzua, 2010. "The Education-Health Gradient," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 234-238, May.
    6. Alan I. Barreca, 2010. "The Long-Term Economic Impact of In Utero and Postnatal Exposure to Malaria," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(4), pages 865-892.
    7. Hoyt Bleakley, 2010. "Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 1-45, April.
    8. Hong, Sok Chul, 2011. "Malaria and Economic Productivity: A Longitudinal Analysis of the American Case," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(3), pages 654-671, September.
    9. Hoyt Bleakley, 2010. "Health, Human Capital, and Development," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 283-310, September.
    10. Chang, Simon & Fleisher, Belton M. & Kim, Seonghoon & Liu, Shi-yung, 2011. "Long-term Effects of Early Childhood Malaria Exposure on Education and Health: Evidence from Colonial Taiwan," IZA Discussion Papers 5526, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James Robinson, 2003. "Disease and Development in Historical Perspective," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(2-3), pages 397-405, 04/05.
    12. Dora L. Costa, 1994. "Health and Labor Force Participation of Older Men, 1900-1991," NBER Working Papers 4929, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2009. "Early Life Health and Cognitive Function in Old Age," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 104-109, May.
    14. Cutler, David M. & Lleras-Muney, Adriana, 2010. "Understanding differences in health behaviors by education," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-28, January.
    15. Venkataramani, Atheendar S., 2012. "Early life exposure to malaria and cognition in adulthood: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 767-780.
    16. Dora L. Costa, 1998. "The Evolution of Retirement: An American Economic History, 1880-1990," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number cost98-1.
    17. David Cutler & Winnie Fung & Michael Kremer & Monica Singhal & Tom Vogl, 2010. "Early-Life Malaria Exposure and Adult Outcomes: Evidence from Malaria Eradication in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 72-94, April.
    18. Costa, Dora L., 1996. "Health and Labor Force Participation of Older Men, 1900–1991," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 62-89, March.
    19. Adrienne M. Lucas, 2010. "Malaria Eradication and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Paraguay and Sri Lanka," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 46-71, April.
    20. Hong, Sok Chul, 2007. "The Burden of Early Exposure to Malaria in the United States, 1850–1860: Malnutrition and Immune Disorders," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 1001-1035, December.
    21. Alan D. Lopez & Colin D. Mathers & Majid Ezzati & Dean T. Jamison & Christopher J. L. Murray, 2006. "Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7039, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bénédicte Apouey & Gabriel Picone & Joshua Wilde & Joseph Coleman & Robyn Kibler, 2016. "Paludisme et anémie des enfants en Afrique subsaharienne : Effet de la distribution de moustiquaires," PSE Working Papers halshs-01261988, HAL.
    2. Michaela Kecskésová & Štěpán Mikula, 2022. "Malaria and Economic Development in the Short-term: Plasmodium falciparum vs Plasmodium vivax," MUNI ECON Working Papers 2022-03, Masaryk University.
    3. Milusheva,Sveta, 2020. "Using Mobile Phone Data to Reduce Spread of Disease," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9198, The World Bank.
    4. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Canuto, Otaviano & da Silva, Luiz Pereira, 2014. "On gender and growth: The role of intergenerational health externalities and women's occupational constraints," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 132-147.
    5. Saavedra, Martin, 2017. "Early-life disease exposure and occupational status: The impact of yellow fever during the 19th century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 62-81.
    6. Bénédicte H. Apouey & Gabriel Picone & Joshua Wilde & Joseph Coleman & Robyn Kibler, 2016. "Malaria and Anemia among Children in sub-Saharan Africa: the Effect of Mosquito Net Distribution," Working Papers 0116, University of South Florida, Department of Economics.
    7. Milusheva, Sveta, 2020. "Managing the spread of disease with mobile phone data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    8. Fang, Guanfu & Feng, Jin, 2021. "Is the 2003 SARS epidemic over? Long-term effects of epidemic exposure on mortality among older adults," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Hsiu‐Han Shih & Ming‐Jen Lin, 2018. "Long‐term impacts of early‐life exposure to malaria: Evidence from Taiwan's Eradication Campaign in the 1950s," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(10), pages 1484-1512, October.
    10. Barofsky, Jeremy & Anekwe, Tobenna D. & Chase, Claire, 2015. "Malaria eradication and economic outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Uganda," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 118-136.
    11. Das, Ashis & Friedman, Jed & Kandpal, Eeshani, 2014. "Does involvement of local NGOs enhance public service delivery ? cautionary evidence from a Malaria-prevention evaluation in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6931, The World Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sok Chul Hong, 2011. "Malaria: An Early Indicator of Later Disease and Work Level," Working Papers 1110, Research Institute for Market Economy, Sogang University.
    2. Samantha Rawlings, 2012. "Gender, race, and heterogeneous scarring and selection effects of epidemic malaria on human capital," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2012-01, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    3. Lazuka, Volha, 2017. "Infant health and later-life labour market outcomes : Evidence from the introduction of sulfa antibiotics in Sweden," Lund Papers in Economic History 154, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    4. Venkataramani, Atheendar S., 2012. "Early life exposure to malaria and cognition in adulthood: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 767-780.
    5. repec:rdg:wpaper:em-dp2012-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Veras, Henrique, 2022. "Wrong place, wrong time: The long-run effects of in-utero exposure to malaria on educational attainment," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    7. Barofsky, Jeremy & Anekwe, Tobenna D. & Chase, Claire, 2015. "Malaria eradication and economic outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Uganda," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 118-136.
    8. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Venkataramani, Atheendar, 2011. "The Captain of the Men of Death and His Shadow: Long-Run Impacts of Early Life Pneumonia Exposure," IZA Discussion Papers 6041, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Fink, Günther & Venkataramani, Atheendar S. & Zanolini, Arianna, 2021. "Early life adversity, biological adaptation, and human capital: evidence from an interrupted malaria control program in Zambia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Rodolfo Manuelli & Emircan Yurdagul, 2021. "AIDS, Human Capital and Development," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 42, pages 178-193, October.
    11. Viviane Sanfelice, 2022. "Mosquito‐borne disease and newborn health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 73-93, January.
    12. Eide, Eric R. & Showalter, Mark H., 2011. "Estimating the relation between health and education: What do we know and what do we need to know?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 778-791, October.
    13. Lawson, Nicholas & Spears, Dean, 2016. "What doesn't kill you makes you poorer: Adult wages and early-life mortality in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 1-16.
    14. Schultz, T. Paul, 2010. "Population and Health Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4785-4881, Elsevier.
    15. Cirera, Laia & Castelló, Judit Vall & Brew, Joe & Saúte, Francisco & Sicuri, Elisa, 2022. "The impact of a malaria elimination initiative on school outcomes: evidence from Southern Mozambique," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113334, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Dora L. Costa, 2015. "Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(3), pages 503-570, September.
    17. Chang, Simon & Fleisher, Belton M. & Kim, Seonghoon & Liu, Shi-yung, 2011. "Long-term Effects of Early Childhood Malaria Exposure on Education and Health: Evidence from Colonial Taiwan," IZA Discussion Papers 5526, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Tom S. Vogl, 2012. "Education and Health in Developing Economies," Working Papers 1453, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    19. Milusheva, Sveta, 2020. "Managing the spread of disease with mobile phone data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    20. repec:pri:rpdevs:vogl_ed_health_review is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Marcello Basili & Filippo Belloc, 2015. "How To Measure The Economic Impact Of Vector-Borne Diseases At Country Level," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 896-916, December.
    22. Pan, Yao & Singhal, Saurabh, 2019. "Agricultural extension, intra-household allocation and malaria," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 157-170.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Malaria; Malaria eradication; Chronic disease; Work disability; DALYs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:32:y:2013:i:3:p:612-632. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505560 .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505560 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.