Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/161504 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2016/121
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
To attract greater levels of foreign direct investment into their gold mining sectors, many mineral-rich countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been willing to overlook serious instances of mining company non-compliance with environmental standards. These lapses in regulatory oversight and enforcement have led to high levels of pollution in many mining communities. The likelihood is high that the risk of pollution-related sicknesses, such as skin infections, upper and lower respiratory disorders, and cardiovascular diseases, will necessitate increasingly high healthcare expenditures in affected communities. In this study, we propose and estimate a hedonic-type model that relates healthcare expenditure to the degree of residents' exposure to mining pollution using data obtained on gold mining in Ghana. The empirical results confirm that, after controlling for factors such as current and long-term health status, increased mining pollution leads to higher healthcare expenditure.
Subjects: 
mining pollution
healthcare expenditure
hedonic analysis
Ghana
JEL: 
Q32
Q38
Q53
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-165-9
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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