Contrary to the well recognized and studied causality running from economic growth to health, this study will present evidence of the reverse causation - from health to economic growth. The processes and connections that trigger the relationship between investment in health and the achievement of economic growth will be observed. The study will go through a review and an analysis of the effects that health investment has on economic growth and the economic rationale for investing in health. There are going to be some analysis and studies of the contribution of health to wealth and societal well-being, how better health serves as a predictor of economic growth and the degree to which economic growth is explained by health expenditures in Albania. The estimated model will be offered by all fundamentals of regression analyzes which will identify the relation between health expenditure per capita in Albania and GDP per capita in order to show if there is any correlation between those two variables. All the data are taken by World Bank for the period of 1995 to 2011. After reasonable analysis, it will be demonstrated that there is a strong relationship between investment in health and economic growth. Based on the evidence and analysis of this paper, health expenditures should be considered as an investment tool toward the achievement of economic and social goals.
Keywords: Health, Investment, Economic Growth, GDP per Capita, Disease, Human Capital, Income, Productivity.
JEL Classification: I15, H51
1. Introduction
Health is an invaluable asset for human beings. Being healthy and living a long life are the most important goals of every individual. Good health has a significant importance for human existence and is a very important so...
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...econd or in studying how GDP per capita varies with changes in health expenditure per capita. The data for the regression are taken from World Bank database and Figure 1 shows the values of the two variables in Albania over the period 1995-2011.
Rivera and Currais estimated the relationship between health and economic growth of The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries over the period 1960-1990 and showed that countries with higher health expenditures had higher economic growth .
Other authors have also made research on the impact of health expenditures on economic growth. A study in thirty-three developing countries over the period 1990-1998, using the generalized Solow growth model and panel data model, resulted in a positive and significant impact of health expenditure on economic growth. (Mojtahed and Javadipour, 2004).
The measure of growth is flawed, how countries see their growth is based on the consumption of their people. Many countries use the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as an indicator for growth, as defined in It’s All Connected, “(GDP) is a calculation of the total monetary value of goods and services produced annually in a country” (Wheeler 11). The...
...sterlin, Richard A. "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?". Nations and Households in Economic Growth:
EFFECTS OF MEDICAL RESEARCH ON HEALTH CARE AND THE ECONOMY, By: Herbert Pardes, Kenneth G. Manton, Eric S. Lander, H. Dennis Tolley, Arthur D. Ullian, Hans Palmer, 01-01-99, Academic Search Premier
According to the World Health Organisation (2017) the social determinants of health are defined as the conditions where people are born, grown, work and live, which also includes the health system. The social determinants of health determined populations health’s outcomes and therefore linked with health inequalities (WHO, 2017)
Health inequalities in any country is an important issue. There are many reasons for inequalities in health, for example, gender and age, economic and social factors.
The structure of my paper is the following. First I identify the trend of heath care costs over time, compared to other countries. Then I present an investigation of possible heath care cost ...
In a worldwide comparison of health status we can observe that, despite the fact that the USA leads the ranking on health expenditure, this do not translate into a better health for the US population. In fact, when comparing health indicators, not only US does not rank among the best, but for most all of the important health indicators measured (life expectance, child mortality, as examples) the US is bellow the average of those indicator among the most affluent industrialized nations.
A considerable amount of literature has been published about the relationship between social inequality, the social determinants of health and poor health outcomes. Research has also been done to assess how political economies as a tool can be used to address the dynamic of said relationship. Coburn (2010), noted that, “the implication of “a” political economy is that there are actually a variety of political economies”, which suggests that each type can produce different results and ultimately shape the social determinants of health and health outcomes differently. This can also an indication that the level of social inequality under the respective economies will differ as well. Coburn, also notes that, “political economy … focuses on the
National health systems are assessed by the extent to which expenditure and actions in public health and medical care contributes to the crucial social goals of improving health, increasing access to quality healthcare, reducing health disparities, protecting citizens from penury due to medical e...
The IMR “reflects the economic and social conditions of the community, as well as the effectiveness of health systems. It also indicates health disparities between different populations, both within and between countries. Furthermore, IMR is strongly correlated to economic development, general living conditions, social wellbeing, and the quality of the environment, that affect the health of entire populations.” (Infant Mortality, 2012)
Figure 1 shows various industrialized countries per capita spending on health-care, and the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). Particularly, it is clearly seen that the United States has the highest per capita spending on health-care compared to other countries.
Wilkinson hypothesizes that income makes a difference as a social determinant of health within but not between industrialized countries (DeMaio 2010, p. 61). In the areas where income matters within is referred to as “the social gradi...
Due to the problems associated with using life expectancy as a proxy variable for health, many authors use health expenditure as representative of health status. There are some specific reasons for this. According to the World Bank, the differences in health care spending among countries constitute a good starting point for explaining the differences in health levels across countries. (World Bank, 1993). In exploring the relationship between public health expenditure and health status, Rivera found that increases in public health expenditure significantly improve both physiological and physical health. (Rivera B. , 2001). Therefore, this study will use health expenditure per capita as a proxy for health and GDP per capita as a proxy for economic growth, in trying to identify the impact of health on economic growth.
The objective of this paper is to make an economic development and economic growth comparison of these four countries. The comparison will be multi-faceted. It will compare monetary perform...
Economic development typically involves improvements in a variety of indicators such as literacy rates, life expectancy, and poverty rates. Due to the fact that GDP alone does not take into account other aspects such as leisure time, environmental quality, freedom, or social justice; alternative measures of economic well-being have been proposed. Essentially, a country’s economic development is related to its human development, which encompasses, among other things, health and education. These factors are, however, closely related to economic growth so that development and growth often go together.