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Health Information, Treatment, and Worker Productivity : Experimental Evidence from Malaria Testing and Treatment among Nigerian Sugarcane Cutters

ABSENTEEISM ACCESS TO TREATMENT ADULT MALES ANAEMIA BACK MALARIA BLOOD SAMPLES BURDEN OF MALARIA CHOICE OF OCCUPATION CLINICS COMA COMMUNICABLE DISEASES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DIAGNOSIS DIAGNOSTIC METHODS DISABILITY DISEASE DISEASE MANIFESTATIONS DISEASE TRANSMISSION DOWNWARD BIAS EARNING ECONOMIC COSTS ECONOMIC GROWTH EMPLOYABILITY ENDEMIC AREAS ESTIMATED PRODUCTIVITY FAMILIES FATIGUE FEVER FIELD WORK HEADACHES HEALTH BEHAVIOR HEALTH BELIEFS HEALTH CARE HEALTH OUTCOMES HEALTH PLANNING HEALTH POLICY HEALTH RESEARCH HEALTH SERVICES HEALTH WORKERS HIGH WAGE HIV HIV INFECTION HIV TESTING HIV/AIDS HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN RESOURCES HYGIENE ILLNESSES IMMUNE DISORDERS IMPACT OF MALARIA INCOME INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS INFECTION RATE INFECTIONS INNOVATION INTERVENTION IRON IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA JOBS LABOR ALLOCATION LABOR ALLOCATION DECISIONS LABOR CONTRACTS LABOR COSTS LABOR ECONOMICS LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LABOR SUPPLY LABORERS LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS MALARIA MALARIA CASES MALARIA CONTROL MALARIA DIAGNOSIS MALARIA INFECTION MALARIA INFECTIONS MALARIA MORBIDITY MALARIA PARASITES MALARIA PREVENTION MALARIA SYMPTOMS MALARIA TRANSMISSION MALNUTRITION MEDICAL TREATMENT MEDICINE MEDICINES MENINGITIS MORBIDITY MORTALITY MOTIVATION NAUSEA NUTRITION NUTRITIONAL STATUS OCCUPATION OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE OCCUPATIONS PARASITOLOGY PATIENT PATIENTS PERSONNEL PHYSICAL HEALTH PHYSICAL WORK PHYSIOLOGY PNEUMONIA POLITICAL ECONOMY POLLUTION PRESENT EVIDENCE PREVALENCE PREVIOUS STUDY PREVIOUS WORK PRIME AGE PRIVATE COSTS PRODUCTION FUNCTION PRODUCTIVITY BENEFIT PRODUCTIVITY EFFECTS PRODUCTIVITY GAINS PRODUCTIVITY INCREASE PUBLIC HEALTH REASONABLE ASSUMPTION RENTS RESOURCE ALLOCATION SCHISTOSOMA SCHISTOSOMIASIS SEX SEXUAL PRACTICES SOCIAL NETWORKS SYMPTOMS SYMPTOMS OF ILLNESS THERAPY TROPICAL MEDICINE TUBERCULOSIS TUBERCULOSIS CONTROL VACCINE VOMITING WAGE GAINS WAGE INCREASES WAGES WORK CAPACITY WORK FORCE WORK GROUPS WORK IN PROGRESS WORKER WORKER PRODUCTIVITY WORKERS WORKING WORKPLACE YOUNGER WORKERS
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World Bank Group, Washington, DC
Africa | Nigeria
2014-12-03T22:06:20Z | 2014-12-03T22:06:20Z | 2014-11

Agricultural and other physically demanding sectors are important sources of growth in developing countries but prevalent diseases such as malaria adversely impact the productivity, labor supply, and choice of job tasks among workers by reducing physical capacity. This study identifies the impact of malaria on worker earnings, labor supply, and daily productivity by randomizing the temporal order at which piece-rate workers at a large sugarcane plantation in Nigeria are offered malaria testing and treatment. The results indicate a significant and substantial intent to treat effect of the intervention -- the offer of a workplace-based malaria testing and treatment program increases worker earnings by approximately 10 percent over the weeks following the offer. The study further investigates the effect of health information by contrasting program effects by workers' revealed health status. For workers who test positive for malaria, the treatment of illness increases labor supply, leading to higher earnings. For workers who test negative, and especially for those workers most likely to be surprised by the healthy diagnosis, the health information also leads to increased earnings via increased productivity. Possible mechanisms for this response include selection into higher return tasks within the plantation as a result of changes in the perceived cost of effort. A model of the worker labor decision that allows health expectations partly to determine the supply of effort suggests that, in endemic settings with poor quality health services, inaccurate health perceptions may lead workers to suboptimal labor allocation decisions. The results underline the importance of medical treatment, but also of access to improved information about one's health status, as the absence of either may lead workers to deliver lower effort in lower return jobs.

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