Poor Economics: Rethinking Poverty & the Ways to End it

by Abhijit V. Banerjee

The misuse of antibiotics increases the likelihood of the emergence of drug-resistant strains of bacteria.26 This is particularly true if, as many of these doctors are wont to do to save their patients money, the advised course is shorter than the standard regimen. Across the developing world, we are seeing a rise in antibiotic resistance. Similarly, incorrect dosage and poor patient compliance explain the emergence, in several African countries, of strains of malaria parasites that are resistant to mainstream medications, which has the makings of a public health disaster.27 In the case of steroids, the damage from overuse is even more insidious. Any researchers of age forty or older who have surveyed the poor in countries like India can recall an occasion when they were surprised to discover that someone they thought was much older than they were was in fact significantly younger. Premature aging can result from many causes, but steroid use is definitely one of them—and it is not just that affected individuals look older, they also die sooner. Yet because the immediate effect of the medicine is to make the patient feel rapidly better and she is not told what might happen later, she goes home happy.