Behavioural response to a sudden health risk: Dengue and educational outcomes in Colombia

Arbeitspapier

Epidemics tend to have a debilitating influence on the lives of directly afflicted families. However, the presence of an epidemic can also change the behaviour and outcomes of those not directly affected. This paper makes use of a short, sharp, unexpected epidemic to examine the behavioural response of the general public to a sudden shift in the perceived risk to an individual's health and mortality. Our analysis finds that unafflicted school students change their behaviour substantially, affecting important life outcomes. In particular, we find that close to 4 fewer students, out of a typical class of 47 pupils, sit their school leaving examination for every additional 10 cases of severe Dengue per 10 000 inhabitants in a municipality. We rule out several possible mechanisms, leaving an increase in the salience of the disease's risks as a plausible explanation for our findings.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WZB Discussion Paper ; No. SP II 2017-306

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health Behavior ; Health and Economic Development ; Education and Research Institutions: General ; Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty: General
• Subject: Health ; health risks ; education ; human capital ; Dengue ; Colombia

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Barron, Kai ; Gamboa, Luis F. ; Rodriguez-Lesmes, Paul
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB)
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/162007
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET