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Migration and The Equilibrium Prevalence of Infectious Diseases
- Source :
- Journal of Demographic Economics
- Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- This paper models how migration both influences and responds to differences in disease prevalence between cities, regions and countries, and show how the possibility of migration away from high-prevalence areas affects long-run steady state disease prevalence. We develop a dynamic framework where both migration and prevention behaviour respond to the prevalence of disease, to the costs of migration and of treatment, and to current and anticipated health regulations. The model treats disease prevalence as an endogenous consequence of other features of the areas concerned, notably their economic endowments. It explores how pressure for migration in response to differing equilibrium levels of disease prevalence causes countervailing differences in city characteristics, notably in land rents. Competition for scarce housing in low-prevalence areas can create pressures for segregation, with disease concentrated in high-prevalence "sinks". We show that multiple steady states may exist and explore their comparative static properties. In particular we find that migration can have positive health benefits, in that reductions in barriers to migration can reduce steady-state disease incidence in low-prevalence areas while having no impact on prevalence in high-prevalence areas. This may have important consequences for policy; in some circumstances, public health measures may need to avoid discouraging migration away from high-disease areas.
- Subjects :
- Economics and Econometrics
medicine.medical_specialty
media_common.quotation_subject
Geography, Planning and Development
0211 other engineering and technologies
Prevalence
02 engineering and technology
Disease
Affect (psychology)
development
infectious diseases
migration
public health
quarantine
Competition (economics)
JV
0502 economics and business
medicine
Economics
jel:R23
050207 economics
B- ECONOMIE ET FINANCE
Demography
media_common
Public health
05 social sciences
Economic rent
021107 urban & regional planning
jel:I18
Demographic economics
jel:O15
RA
jel:O19
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Demographic Economics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b328a05baa82ae5f5e8051fa33c3b4b2