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Why Have Health Expenditures as a Share fo GDP Risen So Much?

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Author Info
Charles I. Jones

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Abstract

Aggregate health expenditures as a share of GDP have risen in the United States from about 5 percent in 1960 to nearly 14 percent in recent years. Why? This paper explores a simple explanation based on technological progress. Medical advances allow diseases to be cured today, at a cost, that could not be cured at any price in the past. When this technological progress is combined with a Medicare- like transfer program to pay the health expenses of the elderly, the model is able to reproduce the basic facts of recent U.S. experience, including the large increase in the health expenditure share, a rise in life expectancy, and an increase in the size of health-related transfer payments as a share of GDP.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 9325.

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Date of creation: Nov 2002
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9325

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
O40 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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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. Irving Shapiro & Matthew D. Shapiro & David Wilcox, 2001. "Measuring the value of Cataract Surgery," NBER Chapters, in: Medical Care Output and Productivity, pages 411-438 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  2. Newhouse, Joseph P, 1992. "Medical Care Costs: How Much Welfare Loss?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 3-21, Summer. [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. Gilad Sorek, 2006. "Advancing Medical Technology, Aging Population, and Economic Growth," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_046, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade. [Downloadable!]
  2. 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!]
  3. Glenn Follette & Louise Sheiner, 2005. "The sustainability of health spending growth," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2005-60, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  4. Michael Stolpe, 2003. "Ressourcen und Ergebnisse der globalen Gesundheitsökonomie, Einführung und Überblick," Kiel Working Papers 1177, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  5. Li Gan & Guan Gong, 2004. "Mortality Risk and Educational Attainment of Black and White Men," NBER Working Papers 10381, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 2005. "The value of life and the rise in health spending," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Charles I. Jones, 2001. "The economic return to health expenditures," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Dec 14. [Downloadable!]
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