Economic Effects of Childhood Exposure to Tropical Disease
探讨热带疾病是否导致热带国家贫困，以非洲领导人声称疟疾使撒哈拉以南非洲GDP降低40%为例，评估这一数字的合理性。
To what extent do tropical diseases contribute to the poverty characteristic of tropical countries? Estimates of the impact of health on income are difficult to obtain because health is a normal good-countries with higher income will buy more of it-and third factors such as remoteness and bad government might impede both productivity and public health. In the Abuja Declaration of 2005, African heads of states claim that malaria has depressed income growth in Subsaharan Africa since the 1960s, so much so that GDP in the region today is 40% lower because of malaria. Estimates of this magnitude have been mocked at cocktail parties and clambakes. But how ridiculous is this number?