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Re: Yuri receives hypocrite of the week award (was Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy)
Joan Shields wrote:
>
> Joan Shields wrote:
> >> Up to half a billion (500,000,000) people in Africa suffer at least one
> >> serious malarial episode each year. In 1993 it was estimated by the World
> >> Bank that within two years, due to loss of productive adult workers,
> >> malaria cost African economies 1.8 billion dollars.
>
> Enrique Diaz-Alvarez <enrique@ee.cornell.edu> wrote:
> >So, on average, being sick with malaria only costs $1.8 a year in loss
> >of productivity? That's one hell of a cheap illness! One morning with
> >the runs, and I'm already out far more than that!
>
> >You are right. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. A lot of it is
> >even more dangerous, when it is not combined with a minimum of common
> >sense and the ability to check one's facts with simple back-of-the
> >envelope estimates.
>
> Hmmm... perhaps you are making the assumption that the only people who are
> suffering from malaria are adult workers? 500,000,000 also includes
> children and the elderly. I guess I should have made that clearer,
> apparently I wrongly assumed that it would be obvious. You might also
> want to keep in mind that $1.8 billion is the cost of lost productivity of
> workers and given the average pay for most of these workers, relatively
> speaking it's a great deal of money.
So, you stand by your assertion that the average malaria case costs less
than one half of a day's wages (at regional levels) in lost
productivity. Remarkable.
>
> And yes, you are correct, knowledge should be combined with a minimum of
> common sense.
>
Yep, I insist.
> joan
--
Enrique Diaz-Alvarez Office # (607) 255 5034
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