IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aka/soceco/v41y2019i4p415-432.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

In an Era of Social, Civic and Political Disengagement, do Health Care and Social Welfare Protection Still Matter to Population Health? Evidence from OECD Mortality Data

Author

Listed:
  • Ernesto R. Ferreira

    (Department of Management and Economics, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal)

  • João D. Monteiro

    (Department of Management and Economics, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal)

Abstract

Have we reached the point where more spending on health care and other forms of social protection is not producing better health as measured by reductions in population mortality? Drawing on two decades of research and mortality statistics (1995–2015) for 17 OECD countries, our analysis confirms and builds on the observed relationship between the returns and investments in health and social welfare spending. First, the results suggest that there is a differential effect of socioeconomic, lifestyle and demography variables on total and cause-specific mortality rates. Second, the basic premise of an association between health care expenditure and mortality rates is reinforced in models that take into account public-only health expenditure and its impact on older age groups. Third, a strong protective effect of government-sponsored welfare expenditure on infant mortality was observed. This effect is weaker on other causes of death and suggests that older individuals, in this sample of developed countries, may have reached a stage of the epidemiological transition in which health improvement is indifferent to government assistance and depends largely on behavioural change.

Suggested Citation

  • Ernesto R. Ferreira & João D. Monteiro, 2019. "In an Era of Social, Civic and Political Disengagement, do Health Care and Social Welfare Protection Still Matter to Population Health? Evidence from OECD Mortality Data," Society and Economy, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 41(4), pages 415-432, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:aka:soceco:v:41:y:2019:i:4:p:415-432
    Note: This study obtained financial support from National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (Portugal), through grant UID/GES/04630/2019.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.akademiai.com/doi/pdf/10.1556/204.2019.41.4.2
    Download Restriction: subscription
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rajeev Dehejia & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2004. "Booms, Busts, and Babies' Health," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 119(3), pages 1091-1130.
    2. Minoiu, Camelia & Andres, Antonio Rodriguez, 2008. "The effect of public spending on suicide: Evidence from U.S. state data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 237-261, February.
    3. David Cutler & Angus Deaton & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "The Determinants of Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 97-120, Summer.
    4. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    5. Elizabeth Brainerd & David M. Cutler, 2005. "Autopsy on an Empire: Understanding Mortality in Russia and the Former Soviet Union," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 107-130, Winter.
    6. repec:pri:cheawb:adriana_booms.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Balia, Silvia & Jones, Andrew M., 2008. "Mortality, lifestyle and socio-economic status," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-26, January.
    8. Sanjeev Gupta & Marijn Verhoeven & Erwin R. Tiongson, 2003. "Public spending on health care and the poor," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(8), pages 685-696, August.
    9. Charles I. Jones, 2002. "Why Have Health Expenditures as a Share fo GDP Risen So Much?," NBER Working Papers 9325, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. repec:pri:cheawb:adriana_booms is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Schnittker, Jason & Karandinos, George, 2010. "Methuselah's medicine: Pharmaceutical innovation and mortality in the United States, 1960-2000," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 961-968, April.
    12. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    13. Richard Auster & Irving Leveson & Deborah Sarachek, 1969. "The Production of Health, an Exploratory Study," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 4(4), pages 411-436.
    14. Ferreira, Ernesto R. & Monteiro, João D. & Manso, José R. Pires, 2018. "Are economic crises age and gender neutral? Evidence from European Union mortality data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 69-77.
    15. Kravdal, Øystein, 2001. "The impact of marital status on cancer survival," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 357-368, February.
    16. Ernesto R. Ferreira & João D. Monteiro & José R. Pires Manso, 2019. "“Death by Economic Crisis”: Suicide and Self-Infl icted Injury in the European Union (EU15) during the Worst of Times," Society and Economy, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 41(1), pages 145-164, March.
    17. Gallet, Craig A. & Doucouliagos, Hristos, 2017. "The impact of healthcare spending on health outcomes: A meta-regression analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 9-17.
    18. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2015. "Recessions, healthy no more?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-28.
    19. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Evgeny Yakovlev & Margarita Khvan & Elizaveta Smorodenkova, 2020. "Economic Crises and Mortality Among the Elderly. Evidence from Two Russian Crises," Working Papers w0266, New Economic School (NES).
    2. Tapia Granados, José A. & Rodriguez, Javier M., 2015. "Health, economic crisis, and austerity: A comparison of Greece, Finland and Iceland," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(7), pages 941-953.
    3. Garth Heutel & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "Air Pollution and Procyclical Mortality," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 667-706.
    4. Ferreira, Ernesto R. & Monteiro, João D. & Manso, José R. Pires, 2018. "Are economic crises age and gender neutral? Evidence from European Union mortality data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 69-77.
    5. Sonia Bhalotra, 2008. "Sibling-Linked Data in the Demographic and Health Surveys," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 08/203, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    6. Cristina Bellés‐Obrero & Sergi Jiménez‐Martín & Judit Vall‐Castello, 2016. "Bad Times, Slimmer Children?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 93-112, November.
    7. Erdal Tekin & Chandler McClellan & Karen Jean Minyard, 2013. "Health and Health Behaviors during the Worst of Times," NBER Working Papers 19234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Tapia Granados, José A., 2012. "Economic growth and health progress in England and Wales: 160 years of a changing relation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(5), pages 688-695.
    9. Chulhee Lee & Kyeongbae Kim, 2017. "Changing Relationship between Unemployment and Mortality in South Korea," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 1630-1636, December.
    10. Chad Cotti & David Simon, 2018. "The Impact Of Stock Market Fluctuations On The Mental And Physical Well‐Being Of Children," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 1007-1027, April.
    11. Hui-Kuan Tseng & Reed Olsen, 2016. "The U.S. health production function: evidence from 2001 to 2009," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 51-64, March.
    12. Mocan, Naci & Raschke, Christian & Unel, Bulent, 2015. "The impact of mothers’ earnings on health inputs and infant health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 204-223.
    13. Haaland, Venke Furre & Telle, Kjetil, 2015. "Pro-cyclical mortality across socioeconomic groups and health status," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 248-258.
    14. Laliotis, Ioannis & Stavropoulou, Charitini, 2018. "Crises and mortality: Does the level of unemployment matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 99-109.
    15. Kadir Atalay & Rebecca Edwards & Stefanie Schurer & David Ubilava, 2021. "Lives saved during economic downturns: Evidence from Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(10), pages 2452-2467, September.
    16. Aparicio, Ainoa & González, Libertad & Vall Castelló, Judit, 2020. "Newborn health and the business cycle: The role of birth order," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    17. Jofre-Bonet, M. & Serra-Sastre, V. & Vandoros, S., 2016. "Better Health in Times of Hardship?," Working Papers 16/09, Department of Economics, City University London.
    18. Jonathan Briody, 2020. "Parental Unemployment During the Great Recession and Childhood Adiposity," Working Papers 202011, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    19. Bhalotra, Sonia, 2010. "Fatal fluctuations? Cyclicality in infant mortality in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 7-19, September.
    20. Melisa Bubonya & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Daniel Christensen & Sarah E. Johnson & Stephen R. Zubrick, 2019. "The Great Recession and Children’s Mental Health in Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-19, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    investments in health and welfare; cause-specific mortality;

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aka:soceco:v:41:y:2019:i:4:p:415-432. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kriston, Orsolya (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://akademiai.hu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.