Abstract

Illegal economic activities are not only associated with higher violent crime, they may also increase unforeseen risks and cause other negative unintended consequences on the population. This paper investigates the causal effects of illegal gold mining on malaria incidence. For this purpose, I employ unique Colombian satellite data with the location of illegal gold mines matched to municipal governmental health reports on the number of malaria cases. To identify causal effects, I use preexisting geochemical gold anomalies as an instrumental variable for illegal gold production. I find positive and large effects of illegal gold mining on malaria incidence. My estimates suggests that when the area with illegal gold mines increases by 1 hectare, the malaria annual parasite index increases by 1.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

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