Spatial health inequality and regional disparities: historical evidence from Italy
| Autor: | Percoco, Marco |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Städtebau
Raumplanung Landschaftsgestaltung Landscaping and area planning place-based policies spatial disparities regional development Malaria height Raumplanung und Regionalforschung Area Development Planning Regional Research Italien Infektionskrankheit 19. Jahrhundert 20. Jahrhundert Gesundheit Ungleichheit regionaler Unterschied Lebensstandard sozioökonomische Faktoren Italy contagious disease health inequality regional difference standard of living socioeconomic factors |
| Zdroj: | Region: the journal of ERSA, 8, 1, 53-73 |
| Druh dokumentu: | Zeitschriftenartikel<br />journal article |
| ISSN: | 2409-5370 |
| DOI: | 10.18335/region.v8i1.325 |
| Popis: | Geography and the quality of the environment may have long lasting effects on the living standards of individuals and this, in its turn, may affect even substantially the distribution of income and regional disparities. In this paper I consider malaria as a measure of “bad geography” and propose some evidence showing that it was a major determinant of the health of individuals (as measured by the height of conscripts) and its disparities between individuals and regions in Italy. In particular, to estimate the relationship between malaria exposure and height, I rely on the “fetal origins hypothesis”, that is I hypothesize that exposure to malaria in utero or during childhood has persistent effects on health. Periods under scrutiny in this paper are the last two decades of the XIX century, a period without major public health interventions, and the years around the eradication era in the 1950s. My results support the hypothesis that geographically targeted policies may reduce health inequality between regions and within regions. |
| Databáze: | SSOAR – Social Science Open Access Repository |
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