title: Health, Human Capital, and Development.
abstract: How much does disease depress development in human capital and income around the world? I discuss a range of micro evidence, which finds that health is both human capital itself and an input to producing other forms of human capital. I use a standard model to integrate these results, and suggest a re-interpretation of much of the micro literature. I then discuss the aggregate implications of micro estimates, but note the complications in extrapolating to general equilibrium, especially because of health's effect on population size. I also review the macro evidence on this topic, which consists of either cross-country comparisons or measuring responses to health shocks. Micro estimates are 1-2 orders of magnitude smaller than the cross-country relationship, but nevertheless imply high benefit-to-cost ratios from improving certain forms of health.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor of Economics, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, 5807 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60637. Telephone: (773) 834-2192.
authors.forename: Hoyt
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bleakley
keywords: disease; economic growth; envelope theorem; income; schooling