{"title":"Epidemic disease and innovation","authors":"Jiafu An , Boyang Chen , Ruoran Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106917","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>It is well-documented that the TseTse fly, which transmits an epidemic disease lethal to livestock, has precluded technology adoption in Africa. In this study, we systematically examine the impact of the TseTse fly on firm innovation in modern Africa. Exploiting newly georeferenced firm data across the world, we find that firms in places that satisfy the TseTse survival conditions are less likely to innovate, and this relationship is unique to Africa and more pronounced in industries with higher innovation intensity. Exploring the channel, we find that people hold more hostile attitude towards technology in historically heavily infested areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48409,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization","volume":"231 ","pages":"Article 106917"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016726812500037X","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
It is well-documented that the TseTse fly, which transmits an epidemic disease lethal to livestock, has precluded technology adoption in Africa. In this study, we systematically examine the impact of the TseTse fly on firm innovation in modern Africa. Exploiting newly georeferenced firm data across the world, we find that firms in places that satisfy the TseTse survival conditions are less likely to innovate, and this relationship is unique to Africa and more pronounced in industries with higher innovation intensity. Exploring the channel, we find that people hold more hostile attitude towards technology in historically heavily infested areas.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization is devoted to theoretical and empirical research concerning economic decision, organization and behavior and to economic change in all its aspects. Its specific purposes are to foster an improved understanding of how human cognitive, computational and informational characteristics influence the working of economic organizations and market economies and how an economy structural features lead to various types of micro and macro behavior, to changing patterns of development and to institutional evolution. Research with these purposes that explore the interrelations of economics with other disciplines such as biology, psychology, law, anthropology, sociology and mathematics is particularly welcome.