Cost-Benefit Analysis on AIDS

Emily Oster, the American economist, takes a look at AIDS. Roughly 25 million people in Africa are affected with AIDS and this is a disease of poverty. So, the widely popular belief is that the disease can be contained by curbing poverty. Uganda is the only African country successful in decreasing the prevalence of AIDS through an educational campaign. With the help of her extensive research, Emily challenges the all of the above.

In a place where there is a lot of AIDS, there is really significant cost of sex. So, people should have less sex in those areas. But this is not the case in Africa! Emily argues that people would have abstained from the costly act if there were enough benefits. But in Africa, the benefits are less because of short life expectancy.

Picture Courtesy: http://bpp.wharton.upenn.edu

Tags: Musings,Emily Oster,Cost-Benefit Analysis,AIDS,Africa

Comments

  1. AparnaJuly 30, 2009 at 8:56 AM

    She was so articulate, I was very impressed.
    She avioded using jargons, spoke to the point and emphasised her points with simple graphs.
    Wish we had such economists and speakers here.
    AIDS can strike anyone from rich to poor. Unless we can effectively communicate with the population, it will be a challenge to combat the disease.

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  2. BK Chowla,July 30, 2009 at 9:08 AM

    Nona,Emily Oster's efforts must be appreciated.
    In India AIDS has become a good topic of discussion.But ,we must not forget we have more people dying of malnutrition, water born diseases,at child birth and various other ailments.Whilst we should be aware of AIDS must not lose sight of other diseases.

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  3. NonaJuly 31, 2009 at 12:28 PM

    @Aparna - I share the same opinion about the "articulate" part. That is why I decided to share this!

    @BKC - I understand your point. Rather than the disease, it was her analysis that caught my attention. She was able to bring out something that will have overlooked by many!

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  4. workhardJuly 31, 2009 at 3:58 PM

    The ratio of HIV infected patients has grown at an exponential level in India too..

    Work from home

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  5. sujata senguptaAugust 1, 2009 at 4:11 PM

    Such a good speaker and so succintly and crisply pointed out facts. Really liked the video, thanks a lot for sharing

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  6. NonaAugust 3, 2009 at 3:06 AM

    @WorkHard- Thanks for dropping by.

    @Sujata - :)

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