Slums and Epidemics
Does the type of settlement influence the spread and severity of infectious diseases, such as Ebola? How can this question be addressed through an empirical economic analysis? With you ever read a better undergraduate thesis?.... NEVER!!!!
By: Julian Olsen-Pendergast
Does the prevalence and deadliness of infectious disease outbreaks disproportionately affect residents of informal settlements? This thesis addresses this question by examining the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and Liberia. To estimate the causal effects of settlement type on the prevalence and deadliness of Ebola, a foundational system to determine the locations of different settlement types, coupled with an extensive empirical estimation strategy, was developed. Specifically, an instrumental variable, proximity to low- skill job opportunities, was employed to correct for the non-random nature of informal settlements in the region. While initial findings suggest no significant causal effects of settlement type on the prevalence and deadliness of Ebola, additional estimations suggest that the global and national strategic health emergency response to the epidemic is the very reason by which significant causal effects were not observed.
Link for Working Paper:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dyrWWMyKkUn1U3FpRQ37C7w-c8wACgva/view?usp=sharing
