Death and Development in Africa

Access Research Paper Here
Authors: McMillan, John; Lorentzen, Peter; Wacziarg, Romain
Source: Springer Science+Business Media
Year: 2008
Number of pages: 44

[This document has not yet been rated] [You must be signed in as faculty to rate this document]   829 views

Abstract:

Analyzing a variety of cross-national and sub-national data, we argue that high adult mortality reduces economic growth by shortening time horizons. Paying careful attention to the age pattern of mortality and to endogeneity issues, we find that a greater risk of death during the prime productive years is associated with higher levels of risky behavior, high fertility, and lower investment in physical capital, even when controlling for infant mortality. In our regressions, adult mortality explains almost all of Africa's growth tragedy. This analysis underscores grim forecasts of the long-run economic costs of the ongoing AIDS epidemic.