Chasing mosquitoes: An exploration of the relationship between economic growth, poverty and the elimination of malaria in Southern Europe in the 20th century.

This paper explores how the elimination of malaria could provide an escape from poverty with reference to the timing of the decline in malaria and its implications in terms of the labour force, the implications for the agricultural sector and the growth of the tourist industry in Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy in the first half of the twentieth century. The paper finds that whilst the control of malaria did have an economic effect, the escape from poverty was encouraged but not explained by malaria elimination. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]