How Do Economic Fluctuations Affect the Mortality of Infectious Diseases?

Abstract

This paper uses the mixed frequency vector autoregression model to explore the impact of economic fluctuations on infectious diseases mortality (IDM) from China perspective. We find that quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) fluctuations have a negative impact on the annual IDM, indicating that the mortality of infectious diseases varies counter-cyclically with the business cycle in China. Specifically, IDM usually increases with deterioration in economic conditions, and vice versa. The empirical results are consistent with the hypothesis I derived from the theoretical analysis, which highlights that economic fluctuations can negatively affect the mortality of infectious diseases. The findings can offer revelations for the government to consider the role of economic conditions in controlling the epidemic of infectious diseases. Policymakers should adopt appropriate and effective strategies to mitigate the potential negative effects of macroeconomic downturns on the mortality of infectious diseases. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, these analyses further emphasize the importance of promoting economic growth, increasing public health expenditure, and preventing and controlling foreign infectious diseases.

Does the Economic Growth Improve Public Health? A Cross-Regional Heterogeneous Study in China

“…Education is another connection between health and the economy. With the economy's growth, various medical policies have been constantly implemented, and people's living standards have improved, which causes public health to become a topic of concern (1)(2)(3). China, the world's second-largest economy, with its rapid economic growth, promotes the continuous improvement of national health policy and healthcare system, as well as a substantial increase in health spending.…”

Do financial and non-financial stocks hedge against lockdown in Covid-19? An event study analysis

“…The data is acquired assuming the virus would cease to exist until 2020, or the next wave would be faced in the fall or eliminated by the fall. All of these assumptions were made to deduce the effect of the virus for the next 3 years (Sun et al, 2021). (Iyke, 2020) analyzed the reaction of gas and oil producers to the pandemic in the USA.…”

Examining the nexus between oil price, COVID-19, uncertainty index, and stock price of electronic sports: fresh insights from the nonlinear approach

“…Baker et al (2020) claim that the impact of COVID-19 on the stock prices is more forceful comparatively to all other earlier outbreaks. Besides, some other researchers have also explored the trends in stock prices for different sectors due to COVID-19, for example, the health sector (Sun et al, 2021), global stock market (Chowdhury et al, 2021), equity stock market and oil and gold market (Qin et al, 2020).…”