Learning, misallocation, and technology adoption: Evidence from new malaria therapy in Tanzania

Arbeitspapier

I show that malaria misdiagnosis, common in resource-poor settings, decreases the expected effectiveness of an important new therapy - since only a fraction of treated individuals have malaria - and reduces the rate of learning via increased noise. Using pilot program data from Tanzania, I exploit variation in the location and timing of survey enumeration to construct reference groups composed of randomly chosen, geographically and temporally proximate acutely ill individuals. I show that learning is stronger and adoption rates are higher in villages with more misdiagnosis. Subsidizing diagnostic tools or improving initial targeting of new technologies may thus accelerate uptake through learning.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: Center Discussion Paper ; No. 1000

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Health and Economic Development ; Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
• Thema: technology adoption ; learning ; malaria ; Tanzania

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Adhvaryu, Achyuta
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Yale University, Economic Growth Center
• (wo): New Haven, CT
• (wann): 2011

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/59136
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:43 MEZ