Assignment #2

In chapter 3 of Poor Economics the authors discuss the idea of a health-based poverty trap in many third-world countries that they have studied.  They conduct research and experiments on the health care systems and the health of citizens in eighteen developing countries. From this research, the authors argue that though there are medicines and treatments available, as well as incentives, to these people, they do not always seize the opportunity to utilize them.  Much like the hunger issue that the authors discussed in the previous chapter, it seems as if the poor in these countries are not taking advantage of what is available to them and not taking actions that are in their best interests.  As a result of people not taking advantage of what is available to them, they remain unhealthy or sick and may not be able to better their situations at all.  The authors point to many data and statistics that they have found to help show that there are efforts being made to provide these people with medical help but they are not always willing to take advantage of it. 

One statistic that the authors provide shows that many people in Zambia do not purchase Chlorin, a product used to purify water.  They say that for $.18, a bottle of Chlorin can be purchased which will last a month and will help to clean up the drinking water.  If the water is cleaned with this bleach it can reduce diarrhea in young children up to 48%.  Despite the low price of Chlorin and the drastic effects it can have, only 10% of the population uses the product.  It is not, as the authors point out, for a lack of knowledge about the product; when asked, 98% of the people were able to name Chlorin as a water sanitizer.  Even when an experiment was conducted to reduce the price of Chlorin and see how it affected peoples purchasing habits, there was still one quarter of the population that would not buy the product.

The authors introduce these statistics both as numerical and anecdotal evidence to support their argument that people in poor countries do not take advantage of resources that can improve their health despite huge incentives.  They tell how even with the reductions in price there was still a large chunk of the population that chose not to buy Chlorin.  Through this statistic the authors are able to show that even though there were incentives to buy this product that could benefit them, people were still unwilling to do so.  I think this is one of the best statistics and stories that they provide in the chapter to reinforce their argument.  The price of Chlorin was reduced to $.07 and would last them a month, however 25% of the population did not purchase it.  This shows that there is at least some truth in what the authors say about people not taking advantage of what seems like readily available and accessible resources that are shown to improve health. 

This statistic does seem realistic to me because they did an experiment to see if price was what was holding people back from buying the product.  They found that though there was a large increase in the number of people who bought Chlorin after the discount was offered, there were still many people who did not.  What I would ask is what are the reasons for those who chose not to buy it? Maybe they did not have young children who would greatly benefit from the product. Perhaps they never suffered from diarrhea and didn't feel the need to purchase Chlorin.  I think there could be many reasons why 25% of the population did not purchase Chlorin and the authors did not really go into that at all.  I think it would have been interesting to somehow conduct a survey of the people who do not use Chlorin for their water and ask why they don't.  Also, comparing the health of those who do and do not use Chlorin would also have been an interesting thing to do.  However, it was a good statistic to help illustrate the point that there are cheap resources available that some people choose not to use.