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Accounting for the Effect of Health on Economic Growth

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Author Info
David Weil

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Abstract

I use microeconomic estimates of the effect of health on individual outcomes to construct macroeconomic estimates of the proximate effect of health on GDP per capita. I use a variety of methods to construct estimates of the return to health, which I combine with cross-country and historical data on several health indicators including height, adult survival, and age at menarche. My preferred estimate of the share of cross-country variance in log income per worker explained by variation in health is 22.6%, roughly the same as the share accounted for by human capital from education, and larger than the share accounted for by physical capital. I present alternative estimates ranging between 9.5% and 29.5%. My preferred estimate of the reduction in world income variance that would result from eliminating health variations among countries is 36.6%.

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Paper provided by DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade in its series DEGIT Conference Papers with number c011_031.

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Length: 59 pages JEL Classification:
Date of creation: Jun 2006
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Handle: RePEc:deg:conpap:c011_031

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  3. Bloom, David E. & Canning, David & Sevilla, Jaypee, 2004. "The Effect of Health on Economic Growth: A Production Function Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 1-13, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Card, David, 1999. "The causal effect of education on earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 30, pages 1801-1863 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why Do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output per Worker than Others?," NBER Working Papers 6564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Alwyn Young, 2004. "The Gift of the Dying: The Tragedy of AIDS and the Welfare of Future African Generations," NBER Working Papers 10991, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Gary S. Becker & Tomas J. Philipson & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2003. "The Quantity and Quality of Life and the Evolution of World Inequality," NBER Working Papers 9765, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Jere R. Behrman & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2004. "Returns to Birthweight," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 586-601, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Roderick Floud, 1998. "Height, Weight, and Body Mass of the British Population Since 1820," NBER Historical Working Papers 0108, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. P Boone & Zhaoguo Zhan, 2006. "Lowering Child Mortality in Poor Countries: The Power of Knowledgeable Parents," CEP Discussion Papers dp0751, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  2. Marc Suhrcke & Dieter M. Urban, 2006. "Are Cardiovascular Diseases Bad for Economic Growth?," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
  3. Gauri Kartini Shastry & David N. Weil, 2003. "How Much of Cross-Country Income Variation is Explained by Health?," Working Papers 2003-08, Brown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  4. David de la Croix & Omar Licandro, 2008. "The Child is Father of the Man: by Implications for the Demographic Transition," Working Papers 2008-04, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  5. de la Croix, David & Licandro, Omar, 2007. "‘The Child is Father of the Man:’ Implications for the Demographic Transition," CEPR Discussion Papers 6493, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Strulik, Holger, 2007. "A Bioeconomic Foundation of the Malthusian Equilibrium: Body Size and Population Size in the Long-Run," Diskussionspapiere der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Hannover dp-373, Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät. [Downloadable!]
  7. Hosny Zoabi, 2007. "Talent Utilization, a Source of Bias in Measuring TFP," Economics Working Papers ECO2007/27, European University Institute. [Downloadable!]
  8. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Strulik, Holger, 2007. "Subsistence – A Bio-economic Foundation of the Malthusian Equilibrium," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Göttingen 2007 31, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  9. P R Agénor & K C Neanidis, 2006. "Corruption Clubs: The Allocation of Public Expenditure and Economic Growth," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 69, Economics, The Univeristy of Manchester. [Downloadable!]
  10. Francesco Ricci & Marios Zachariadis, 2006. "Determinants of Public Health Outcomes: A Macroeconomic Perspective," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_045, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Galor, Oded & Moav, Omer, 2005. "Natural Selection and the Evolution of Life Expectancy," CEPR Discussion Papers 5373, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Francesco Ricci & Marios Zachariadis, 2008. "Longevity and Education: A Macroeconomic Perspective," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 1-2008, University of Cyprus Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  13. Douglas Gollin & Christian Zimmermann, 2007. "Malaria: Disease Impacts and Long-Run Income Differences," Working papers 2007-30, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Areendam Chanda & Carl-Johan Dalgaard, 2003. "Dual Economies and International Total Factor Productivity Differences," EPRU Working Paper Series 03-09, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Garima Malik, 2006. "An Examination of the relationship between Health and Economic Growth," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 185, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India. [Downloadable!]
  16. P R Agénor, 2005. "Health and Infrastructure in Models of Endogenous Growth," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 62, Economics, The Univeristy of Manchester. [Downloadable!]
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