Abstract
Standard public health tools and markets might be ineffective to overcome collective action problems related to malaria, but individuals often face incentives to discover novel solutions. Such incentives and discoveries form emergent public health institutions, which help improve public health in voluntary ways tailored to the myriad subjective goals people have. In the context of malaria, these institutions turn mosquito control from a good that emits positive externalities into private, club, and common goods, whereby individuals face additional incentives to produce. The extent of this discovery process depends on the many inputs of mosquito control, in addition to local disease environments, and various economic, political, and social institutions. Endogenous public health institutions suggest we revise standard models of malaria, common notions of externalities and collective action problems related to disease, and standard public health tools. Overall, the voluntary responses people can take to provide mosquito control and resolve collective action problems suggest a greater appreciation for liberal institutions that encourage innovation and opportunities to advance civil society and self-governance. There is much more that can be done to lessen the burden of malaria and much more that is obtainable once people have greater opportunities to resolve collective action problems on their own.
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Notes
- 1.
There is a growing literature on such institutions that aligns with our notions of self-governance. For example, see industrial sickness funds and healthcare associations (Murray 2007; Ford Chapin 2015) and related privately provided public health goods (Fishback, 1992; Galiani et al. 2005; Carson 2016). Recently, Anderson (2017) develops a similar appreciation for private institutions related to medical tourism and lodge doctors, for example, which facilitate market activities despite lingering imperfections.
- 2.
On the development of markets throughout history, Vernon Smith (2009: 3) makes an important point about ecological systems and the provision of public goods: “Although as economists we have articulated rational models of public goods problems such ways of thinking were not necessary in the past for societies to create emergent solutions out of human interactions uninformed by formal economic analysis.”
- 3.
The 2022 World Malaria Report begins by invoking “a need to maximize the efficient, effective, and equitable use of malaria and other health system resources”. Given growing urban populations throughout the world, the report also discusses the goal of preventing malaria in urban areas.
- 4.
Similarly, Cowen (1985) recognizes that the marginal unit of production influences when and where people might provide public goods in private ways.
- 5.
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Carson, III, B.B. (2023). The Institutions of Mosquito Control and Malaria Prevention. In: Challenging Malaria. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39510-9_11
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