The Economic Implications of Epidemics Old and New

The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the winter of 2002-3 raised the specter of a new, unknown and uncontrollable infectious disease that spreads quickly and is often fatal. Certain branches of economic activity, notably tourism, felt its impact almost at once, and investor ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWorld economics (Henley-on-Thames, England) Vol. 5; no. 4; p. 137
Main Authors Bell, Clive, Lewis, Maureen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Henley-on-Thames NTC Publications Ltd 01.10.2004
Subjects
Disease
Economic development
Economic impact
Epidemics
Regression analysis
Severe acute respiratory syndrome
Social policy
Strategic management
Studies
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Summary:The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the winter of 2002-3 raised the specter of a new, unknown and uncontrollable infectious disease that spreads quickly and is often fatal. Certain branches of economic activity, notably tourism, felt its impact almost at once, and investor expectations of a safe and controlled investment climate were brought into question. Part of the shock of SARS was the abrupt reversal of a mounting legacy of disease control that had altered societies' expectations from coping with waves of epidemics of smallpox, cholera, and measles, among other diseases, to complacency with the virtual elimination of disease epidemics. This paper analyzes the economic implications of the Great Plague in the fourteenth century, the 1918-19 influenza epidemic, the HIV/AIDS curse and SARS to demonstrate the short- and long-term effects of different kinds of epidemics. The magnitude and nature of economic effects vary according to the duration and characteristics of the epidemic, but the returns to controlling disease are high. Public health measures - provision of clean water and sanitation, immunization, control of disease vectors, health education, and the ability to intervene and act when needed, as accomplished belatedly in the SARS outbreak - represent key ingredients in blunting the economic and human costs of epidemics. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:1468-1838
1474-3884