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The Health of Nations: The Contribution of Improved Health to Living Standards

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Author Info
William D. Nordhaus () (Cowles Foundation)
Abstract

Nations generally measure their economic performance using the yardstick of national output and income. It is not widely recognized, however, that conventional measures of national income and output exclude the value of improvements in the health status of the population. The present study develops a methodology and presents preliminary estimates of how standard economic measures would change if they adequately reflected improvements in health status. The study first discusses the theory of the measurement of national income, examines some of the shortcomings of traditional concepts, and proposes a new concept called 'health income' that can be used to incorporate improvements in health status. The study next discusses how the proposed measure fits into existing theories for measuring and valuing consumption and health status. The study applies the new concepts to data for the United States over the twentieth century and concludes that accounting for improvements in the health status would substantially increase the estimated improvement in economic welfare for the U.S. over the twentieth century.

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File URL: http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cd/d13b/d1355.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Cowles Foundation, Yale University in its series Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers with number 1355.

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Length: 56 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1355

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Postal: Yale University, Box 208281, New Haven, CT 06520-8281 USA
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Postal: Cowles Foundation, Yale University, Box 208281, New Haven, CT 06520-8281 USA

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Related research
Keywords: Health income growth

Find related papers by JEL classification:
I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
N1 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations
C82 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Dora L. Costa & Richard H. Steckel, 1995. "Long-Term Trends in Health, Welfare, and Economic Growth in the United States," NBER Historical Working Papers 0076, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. David M. Cutler & Mark McClellan & Joseph P. Newhouse & Dahlia Remler, 1996. "Are Medical Prices Declining?," NBER Working Papers 5750, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2005. "The Tortoise and the Hare - Economic Growth in Britain and the Netherlands c. 1500-1800," Working Papers 200524, School Of Economics, University College Dublin. [Downloadable!]
  2. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2005. "You Take the High Road and I’ll Take the Low Road - Economic Success and Wellbeing in the Longer Run," Working Papers 200510, School Of Economics, University College Dublin. [Downloadable!]
  3. Namkee Ahn, . "Assessing Self-Assessed Health Data," Working Papers 2002-24, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  4. Francesco Ricci & Marios Zachariadis, 2006. "Determinants of Public Health Outcomes: A Macroeconomic Perspective," Computing in Economics and Finance 2006 107, Society for Computational Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  5. S. Grosskopf   & S. Self   & O. Zaim, 2006. "Estimating the efficiency of the system of healthcare financing in achieving better health," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 38(13), pages 1477-1488, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Charles I. Jones, 2001. "The economic return to health expenditures," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Dec 14. [Downloadable!]
  7. Julia Fimpel & Michael Stolpe, 2006. "The Welfare Costs of HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe: An Empirical Assessment Using the Economic Value-of-Life Approach," Kiel Working Papers 1297, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  8. Francisco José Goerlich Gisbert & Rafael Pinilla Pallejà, 2003. "Distribución De La Renta Y El Potencial De Calidad De Vida (Qlp) En España (1981-1999)," Working Papers. Serie EC 2003-03, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie). [Downloadable!]
  9. Joseph J. Doyle, Jr., 2007. "Returns to Local-Area Health Care Spending: Using Health Shocks to Patients Far From Home," NBER Working Papers 13301, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Rafael Di Tella & Robert MacCulloch, 2005. "Gross National Happiness as an Answer to the Easterlin Paradox?," Macroeconomics 0504027, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  11. Frank R. Lichtenberg & Suchin Virabhak, 2002. "Pharmaceutical-embodied technical progress, longevity, and quality of life: drugs as "equipment for your health"," NBER Working Papers 9351, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Anni Huhtala & Eva Samakovlis, 2007. "Flows of Air Pollution, Ill Health and Welfare," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 37(2), pages 445-463, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Michael Stolpe, 2003. "Ressourcen und Ergebnisse der globalen Gesundheitsökonomie, Einführung und Überblick," Kiel Working Papers 1177, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  14. Robert J. Gordon, 2006. "The Boskin Commission Report: A Retrospective One Decade Later," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 12, pages 7-22, Spring. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Lars Osberg & Andrew Sharpe, 2003. "Human Well-being and Economic Well-being: What Values Are Implicit in Current Indices?," CSLS Research Reports 2003-04, Centre for the Study of Living Standards. [Downloadable!]
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