Globalization and Disease: The Case of SARS* Jong-Wha Lee Korea University and The Australian National University Warwick J. McKibbin** The Australian National University and The Brookings Institution Revised May 20, 2003 * This paper was presented to the Asian Economic Panel meeting held in Tokyo, May 11-12, 2003. The authors thank Andrew Stoeckel for interesting discussions and many participants at the Asian Economic Panel particularly Jeffrey Sachs, Yung Chul Park, George Von Furstenberg and Zhang Wei for helpful comments. Alison Stegman provided excellent research assistance and Kang Tan provided helpful data. See also the preliminary results and links to the model documentation at http://www.economicscenarios.com. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of the Institutions with which the authors are affiliated including the trustees, officers or other staff of the Brookings Institution. **Send correspondence to Professor Warwick J McKibbin, Economics Division, Research School of Pacific & Asian Studies, Australian National University,ACT 0200, Australia. Tel: 61-2-61250301, Fax: 61-2-61253700, Email:
[email protected]. 1 1. Introduction SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) has put the world on alert. The virus appears to be highly contagious and fatal. In the six months after its first outbreak in China in Guangdong province last November, the SARS disease has spread to at least 28 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Spain, and the United States. The number of probable cases reached 7,919 worldwide by May 20 (see Table 1 and Figure 1).