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COVID-19 is currently having major short run effects with possible serious long run implications for the environment and the management of natural resources in Latin America. We discuss the possible effects of the pandemic on air pollution, deforestation and other relevant environmental dimensions across the region. With contributions from environmental economists from eight countries, we give an overview of the initial and expected environmental effects of this health crisis. We discuss potential effects on environmental regulations, possible policy interventions, and an agenda for future research for those interested in the design and evaluation of environmental policies relevant for the Latin American context.
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RESUMEN Objetivo: Estimar la carga económica asociada a la enfermedad renal crónica (ERC) en Colombia, para el periodo 2015-2016. Materiales y métodos: Se estimó la carga económica de la ERC en Colombia a partir de datos de terceros pagadores. Se realizó un costeo de los estadios de la ERC mediante la técnica de macro-costeo o top-down, con el fin de conocer el impacto económico de cada estadio en la carga global de la enfermedad. Se construyó un modelo de Markov que simulara la historia natural de la enfermedad. Se utilizó una tasa de descuento del 5% y ciclos anuales. A cada estado de la ERC se le asignó un costo relacionado con la atención, con lo cual se obtuvo un estimado del costo y de la carga de enfermedad de todos los pacientes con ERC. Resultados: Al final de los ciclos de todos los pacientes desde el estadio 1-5, incluyendo el trasplante, se estimó una carga económica que asciende a COP 10,5 billones (IC 95% COP 8,7- COP 14,4). En el escenario con tasa de descuento del 5%, la carga económica asciende a COP 7,8 billones. Conclusión: La ERC representa una alta carga económica al sistema de salud colombiano, la cual oscila entre COP 8,7 y COP 14,4 billones, que representarían entre el 1,6% y el 2,7% del producto interno bruto de Colombia en el 2015.
ABSTRACT: Objective: Estimate the economic burden due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Colombia, for 2015-2016. Methods: We estimated the economic burden of CKD through third payer's data. A top-down technique was used to estimate the costs related to CKD as input to estimate the economic burden of the disease. A Markov model was conducted to simulate the natural history of the disease. A 5% discount rate and annual cycles were used. Each stage of the disease had a cost associated with the disease, producing and estimation of the economic burden of all patients with CKD. Results: At the end of the modeling from stages 1-5, including transplantation, the economic burden of CKD was COP $10.5 billion (IC 95% $8.7-$14.4). In the discount rate scenario, the economic burden was COP $7.8 billons. Conclusion: CKD represents a high economic burden on the Colombian health system, which ranges from COP $ 8.7- $ 14.4 billion that would represent between 1.6% and 2.7% of Colombia's Gross Domestic Product, 2015.
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In this article, we explore how independently reported measures of subjects' cognitive capabilities, preferences, and sociodemographic characteristics relate to their behavior in a real-effort moral dilemma experiment. To do this, we use a unique dataset, the Chapman Preferences and Characteristics Instrument Set (CPCIS), which contains over 30 standardized measures of preferences and characteristics. We find that simple correlation analysis provides an incomplete picture of how individual measures relate to behavior. In contrast, clustering subjects into groups based on observed behavior in the real-effort task reveals important systematic differences in individual characteristics across groups. However, while we find more differences, these differences are not systematic and difficult to interpret. These results indicate a need for more comprehensive theory explaining how combinations of different individual characteristics impact behavior is needed.
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This article examines individual and social influences on investments in health and enjoyment from immediate consumption. Our lab experiment mimics the problem of health investment over a lifetime (Grossman, 1972a,b). Incentives to find the appropriate expenditures on life enjoyment and health are given by making in each period come period a function of previous health investments. In order to model social effects in the experiment, we randomly assigned individuals to chat/observation groups. Groups were permitted to freely chat between repeated lifetimes. Two treatments were employed: In the Independent-rewards treatment, an individual's rewards from investments in life enjoyment depend only on his choice and in the Interdependent-rewards treatment; rewards not only depend on an individual's choices but also on their similarity to the choices of the others in their group, generating a premium on conformity. The principal hypothesis is that gains from conformity increase variance in health behavior among groups and can lead to suboptimal performance. We tested three predictions and each was supported by the data: the Interdependent-rewards treatment (1) decreased within-group variance, (2) increased between-group variance, and (3) increased the likelihood of behavior far from the optimum with respect to the dynamic problem. We also test and find support for a series of subsidiary hypotheses. We found: (4) Subjects engaged in helpful chat in both treatments; (5) there was significant heterogeneity among both subjects and groups in chat frequencies; and (6) chat was most common early in the experiment, and (7) the interdependent rewards treatment increased strategic chat frequency. Incentives for conformity appear to promote prosocial behavior, but also increase variance among groups, leading to convergence on suboptimal strategies for some groups. We discuss these results in light of the growing literature focusing on social networks and health outcomes.
