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Death, tetanus, and aerobics: The evaluation of disease-specific health interventions

Author

Listed:
  • William H. Dow
  • Jessica Holmes
  • Tomas Philipson
  • Xavier Sala-i-Martin

Abstract

This paper provides a theoretical and empirical investigation of the positive complementarities between disease-specific policies introduced by competing risks of mortality. The incentive to invest in prevention against one cause of death depends positively on the level of survival from other causes. This means that a specific public health intervention has benefits other than the direct medical reduction in mortality: it affects the incentives to fight other diseases so the overall reduction in mortality will, in general, be larger than that predicted by the direct medical effects. We discuss evidence of these cross-disease effects by using data on neonatal tetanus vaccination through the Expanded Programme on Immunization of the World Health Organization.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • William H. Dow & Jessica Holmes & Tomas Philipson & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1995. "Death, tetanus, and aerobics: The evaluation of disease-specific health interventions," Economics Working Papers 124, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    • Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:124
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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