PSC Working Paper Series
Document Type
Working Paper
Date of this Version
9-27-2012
Abstract
In response to AIDS mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, international donors have collaborated with many national governments to provide free antiretroviral therapy (ART) to people with HIV. We explore the impact of this decline in objective mortality risk on subjective perceptions of mortality risk, as well as mental health, and agricultural labor supply and output. Through a difference-indifference identification strategy, we find that ART availability substantially reduces subjective mortality risk and improves mental health in rural Malawi, including among HIV-negative respondents. People allocate significantly more time to subsistence maize cultivation and increase maize output. These results show a novel link between mortality conditions and economic development through the channel of mental health. Findings for the HIV-negative subpopulation also demonstrate that the impact of the AIDS epidemic and ART are broader than previously understood.
Keywords
Antiretroviral therapy, HIV/AIDS, Malawi, Mental health, Sub-Saharan Africa, Subjective mortality rish
Date Posted: 01 October 2012
Comments
Recommended Citation:
Baranov, Victoria, Daniel Bennett and Hans-Peter Kohler. 2012. "The Indirect Impact of Antiretroviral Therapy." PSC Working Paper Series, PSC 12-08.
This working paper was published in a journal:
Baranov, Victoria, Daniel Bennett and Hans-Peter Kohler. 2015. "The Indirect Impact of Antiretroviral Therapy: Mortality Risk, Mental Health, and HIV-Negative Labor Supply." Journal of Health Economics 44:195-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.07.008.