Cost of Disease

This repository contains the data and code for the analyses by Jason DeBacker (@jdebacker) and Richard W. Evans (@rickecon) in the article "The Economic Costs of Public Health Spending Cuts: HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis in South Africa".

How to run OG-ZAF macroecononomic simulations from the paper

We have a Python script in the /code/ directory of this repository called main.py. Executing this main.py script in Python will run our baseline simulation of the model followed by our three spending cut and excess deaths scenarios. The underlying macroeconomic model is the open source OG-ZAF overlapping generations macroeconomic model. The documentation for the OG-ZAF model is available online at https://eapd-drb.github.io/OG-ZAF and the documentation for the underlying OG-Core dependency of the model is also online at https://github.com/PSLmodels/OG-Core.

The following are the steps to fully replicating all of our analyses in the paper.

1. Make sure you have the Anaconda distribution of Python installed on your computer
   • Go to https://www.anaconda.com/download in your internet browser
   • Select "Skip registration" under the big green "Submit button" (this will allow you to download the Python distribution without giving your email)
   • Select the correct Python installer for your operating system and chip set
   • In the graphical installer, select all the default settings
2. Either download or clone the CostOfDisease repository to your local computer
   • Navigate to the CostOfDisease GitHub repository (https://github.com/OpenSourceEcon/CostOfDisease) in your internet browser
   • To download the repository to your machine:
     • Click on the bright green "Code" button in the upper-right side of the page.
     • Click on the "Download ZIP" option in the bottom of the Local tab.
     • Place the contents of the downloaded "CostOfDisease-main.zip" file in the location you want on your hard drive.
   • To clone the repository to your machine:
     • Make sure you have Git software installed on your computer
     • Make sure you have signed up for your own user account on GitHub.com. (Go to https://github.com, click "Sign up", and follow the instructions)
     • Fork the CostOfDisease GitHub repository.
       • Navigate to the CostOfDisease GitHub repository (https://github.com/OpenSourceEcon/CostOfDisease)
       • Click the "Fork" button in the upper-right portion of the screen.
       • Click "Create fork". This will create a copy of this repository on your GitHub account.
     • Clone the repository from your GitHub account.
       • Open your Terminal (Anaconda prompt on Windows)
       • Navigate to the directory in which you want to place the CostOfDisease repository
       • Clone the repository to your hard drive: git clone https://github.com/[YourGitHubHandle]/CostOfDisease.git
3. Create the conda environment disease-dev from the environment.yml file
   • Open your Terminal (Anaconda prompt on Windows)
   • Navigate to the CostOfDisease repository
   • Create the disease-dev conda environment : conda env create -f code/environment.yml
4. Run the baseline simulation
   • Open your Terminal (Anaconda prompt on Windows)
   • Navigate to the CostOfDisease repository
   • Activate your disease-dev conda environment: conda activate disease-dev
   • Run the main.py Python script: python ./code/main.py
   • All the output will be saved in the ./code/CostOutput/ directory.
   • get_pop_data.py: This script has utilities to get the population data for the baseline and to compute the counterfactual population under increased mortality.
   • create_plots_tables.py: This script has utilities to create plots and tables for the results.

Files and directories in the repository

• .gitignore: A Git software hidden file that tells Git which files and directories in which to ignore changes in the version history.
• ./code/: Directory in which all the code and output of the model is stored.
  • ./code/demographic_data: Directory in which all the demographic data for the simulations is stored as .csv files.
  • ./code/environment.yml: Conda environment file.
• LICENSE: Creative Commons open source license for this repository.
• README.md: README file with instructions on the content of and how to use this repository.
• ./paper/: Directory in which all of the draft LaTeX files and image files are stored.
  • ./paper/CostOfDisease.pdf: PDF file of most recent version of the paper.