Bangladesh Damian Walker PhD at School of Arts and Sciences, Economics The goal of this project is to place a more holistic value on vaccines. In particular, relatively new vaccines such as those for rotavirus are used less frequently than their longer-established counterparts (such as rotavirus), but the value of these newer vaccines may be underestimated. Previous analyses of the benefits of vaccines typically evaluate only the short-term cost savings of vaccination, such as the additional income a parent makes when working instead of tending after a sick child. However, by avoiding the long-term health effects of a disease, a vaccinated child becomes a productive adult member of the work force. Thus, an individual’s potential contributions to the economy, and society as a whole, are improved with vaccination. Furthermore, there are also larger societal benefits, in the form of herd immunity. This project will look at three different vaccination programs, and attempt to gain a more long-term, community-wide interpretation of the benefits associated with the vaccines.
I will be responsible for the substantial econometric demands of this project, with the biggest challenge being to control for selection into vaccination. This will be done variously through instrumentation and statistical matching.
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Julia Driessen
