Parasites, Pathogens, and Progress: Diseases and Economic Development

Robert A. McGuire is Research Professor of Economics at the University of Akron. Philip R. P. Coelho is Professor of Economics at Ball State University.

" Parasites, Pathogens, and Progress is economic history at its best: careful and compelling economic theorizing; fidelity to the data and the facts; and a genuine openness to other disciplines, particularly medicine and biology. There is much to learn from this rich and provocative story."--Werner Troesken, Professor of Economics, University of Pittsburgh; author of The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster "Scientists, economists, historians, and a goodly number of the rest of us have long recognized disease as a powerful influence on the course of human experience, but we have harvested less than we could have from that insight because our familiarity with the subject is so thin. We can do a lot to cure that by reading this excellent study, Parasites, Pathogens, and Progress."--Alfred W. Crosby, Professor Emeritus of History, Geography, and American Studies, University of Texas at Austin; author of Ecological Imperialism "Parasites represent the most common pathogens of 'the bottom billion', the world's poorest people. This volume provides important new insights on a group of organisms that together represent a potent force in trapping people in poverty."--Peter J. Hotez, Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular Virology, and Microbiology, and founding Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine; President, Sabin Vaccine Institute