IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bcu/greewp/greenwp10.html

Vector-Borne Diseases and Economic Activity: Evidence from Historical Farmer Productivity in the US

Author

Listed:
  • Maurizio Malpede

Abstract

This study provides an estimation of the causal relationship between the reduction in malaria transmission and farmer agricultural productivity. Exploiting exogenous geographic variations in the stability of malaria and using historical disaggregated county data for the US together with a robust quasi-experimental approach, I show that the eradication of malaria led to approximately one fifth of the farmer agricultural productivity growth in the US. Using historical spatial data on cropland distribution within the US, I also show that the positive effect was entirely due to better health conditions rather than a greater availability of arable land. No effect is found on agricultural output per capita for more endemic counties, suggesting that the increase in farm output was compensated by the increase in population. Robustness checks from geographic variations in malaria stability within neighboring counties along with placebo treatments reinforce the positive effect of the eradication of malaria in the US on farmer agricultural productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Maurizio Malpede, 2020. "Vector-Borne Diseases and Economic Activity: Evidence from Historical Farmer Productivity in the US," GREEN Working Papers 10, GREEN, Centre for Research on Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy & Networks, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcu:greewp:greenwp10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec.unibocconi.it/iefe/bcu/papers/GREEN_wp10.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2011. "The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence From A Historical Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(2), pages 593-650.
    2. Paola Giuliano & Nathan Nunn, 2013. "The Transmission of Democracy: From the Village to the Nation-State," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 86-92, May.
    3. Hoyt Bleakley, 2010. "Health, Human Capital, and Development," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 283-310, September.
    4. Douglas Gollin & David Lagakos & Michael E. Waugh, 2014. "Agricultural Productivity Differences across Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 165-170, May.
    5. Daron Acemoglu & Leopoldo Fergusson & Simon Johnson, 2020. "Population and Conflict," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(4), pages 1565-1604.
    6. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    7. Gooch, Elizabeth, 2017. "The impact of reduced incidence of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases on global population," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 214-228.
    8. Casper Worm Hansen & Lars Lønstrup, 2015. "The Rise in Life Expectancy and Economic Growth in the 20th Century," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(584), pages 838-852, May.
    9. Hoyt Bleakley, 2003. "Disease and Development: Evidence from the American South," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(2-3), pages 376-386, 04/05.
    10. Hoyt Bleakley, 2009. "Economic Effects of Childhood Exposure to Tropical Disease," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 218-223, May.
    11. Marcella Alsan, 2015. "The Effect of the TseTse Fly on African Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(1), pages 382-410, January.
    12. Marco Percoco, 2013. "The Fight Against Disease: Malaria and Economic Development in I talian Regions," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(2), pages 105-125, April.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Paula Bustos & Bruno Caprettini & Jacopo Ponticelli, 2016. "Agricultural Productivity and Structural Transformation: Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(6), pages 1320-1365, June.
    16. Hoyt Bleakley, 2007. "Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 73-117.
    17. Quamrul H. Ashraf & Ashley Lester & David N. Weil, 2009. "When Does Improving Health Raise GDP?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2008, Volume 23, pages 157-204, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 2016. "The European origins of economic development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 225-257, September.
    19. Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2013. "Pre‐Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(1), pages 113-152, January.
    20. 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.
    21. Jeffrey Sachs & Pia Malaney, 2002. "The economic and social burden of malaria," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6872), pages 680-685, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Maurizio Malpede & Giacomo Falchetta & Soheil Shayegh, 2023. "Mosquitoes and Potatoes: How Local Climatic Conditions Impede Development," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 86(4), pages 851-892, December.
    2. Maurizio Malpede, 2023. "Malaria and economic activity: Evidence from US agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(5), pages 1516-1542, October.
    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. Weil, David N., 2014. "Health and Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 3, pages 623-682, Elsevier.
    5. Tompsett, Anna, 2020. "The Lazarus drug: the impact of antiretroviral therapy on economic growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    6. Fumagalli, Elena & Pinna Pintor, M & Suhrcke, Marc, 2024. "The impact of health on economic growth: A narrative literature review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    7. Flückiger, Matthias & Ludwig, Markus, 2017. "Malaria suitability, urbanization and persistence: Evidence from China over more than 2000 years," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 146-160.
    8. Madsen, Jakob B., 2016. "Barriers to Prosperity: Parasitic and Infectious Diseases, IQ, and Economic Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 172-187.
    9. Casper Worm Hansen & Holger Strulik, 2017. "Life expectancy and education: evidence from the cardiovascular revolution," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 421-450, December.
    10. Maseland, Robbert, 2021. "Contingent determinants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    11. Aditya Goenka & Lin Liu, 2020. "Infectious diseases, human capital and economic growth," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 70(1), pages 1-47, July.
    12. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Clarke, Damian & Venkataramani, Atheendar, 2025. "The Long Run Economic Effects of Medical Innovation and the Role of Opportunities," IZA Discussion Papers 18327, IZA Network @ LISER.
    13. Francis Makamu & Mehtabul Azam & Harounan Kazianga, 2018. "Returns to Controlling a Neglected Tropical Disease: Schistosomiasis Control Programme and Education Outcomes in Nigeria," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 27(5), pages 538-557.
    14. Balew, Solomon & Bulte, Erwin & Abro, Zewdu & Asale, Abebe & Mutero, Clifford & Kassie, Menale, 2025. "A tale of framing and screening: How health messaging and house screening affect malaria transmission in Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    15. Bloom, David E. & Kuhn, Michael & Prettner, Klaus, 2018. "Health and Economic Growth," IZA Discussion Papers 11939, IZA Network @ LISER.
    16. 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.
    17. Vitantonio Mariella, 2023. "Landownership concentration and human capital accumulation in post-unification Italy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1695-1764, July.
    18. Cervellati, Matteo & Esposito, Elena & Sunde, Uwe & Yuan, Song, 2022. "Malaria and Chinese economic activities in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    19. Kammas, Pantelis & Sarantides, Vassilis, 2024. "Historical pathogen prevalence and the radius of trust," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    20. Kuschnig, Nikolas & Vashold, Lukas, 2023. "The economic impacts of malaria: past, present, and future," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 338, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

    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:bcu:greewp:greenwp10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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: Carlotta Milani (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eabocit.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.