IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jmacro/v32y2010i1p314-325.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is health capital formation good for long-term economic growth? - Panel Granger-causality evidence for OECD countries

Author

Listed:
  • Hartwig, Jochen

Abstract

A large body of both theoretical and empirical literature has affirmed a positive impact of human capital accumulation in the form of health on economic growth. For rich countries, however, the existing empirical evidence is mixed. This paper revisits the question whether health capital formation stimulates GDP growth in rich countries applying a new empirical methodology: the panel Granger-causality framework. The results do not lend support to the view that health capital formation fosters long-term economic growth in the OECD area.

Suggested Citation

  • Hartwig, Jochen, 2010. "Is health capital formation good for long-term economic growth? - Panel Granger-causality evidence for OECD countries," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 314-325, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jmacro:v:32:y:2010:i:1:p:314-325
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0164-0704(09)00046-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Heshmati, Almas, 2001. "On the Causality between GDP and Health Care Expenditure in Augmented Solow Growth Model," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 423, Stockholm School of Economics.
    2. Rivera, Berta & Currais, Luis, 2004. "Public Health Capital and Productivity in the Spanish Regions: A Dynamic Panel Data Model," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 871-885, May.
    3. Hartwig, Jochen, 2008. "What drives health care expenditure?--Baumol's model of 'unbalanced growth' revisited," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 603-623, May.
    4. Sargent, Thomas J, 1976. "A Classical Macroeconometric Model for the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(2), pages 207-237, April.
    5. Alok Bhargava & Dean T. Jamison & Lawrence J. Lau & Christopher J. L. Murray, 2006. "Modeling the effects of health on economic growth," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Econometrics, Statistics And Computational Approaches In Food And Health Sciences, chapter 20, pages 269-286, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    7. Don Webber, 2002. "Policies to stimulate growth: should we invest in health or education?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(13), pages 1633-1643.
    8. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Newey, Whitney & Rosen, Harvey S, 1988. "Estimating Vector Autoregressions with Panel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1371-1395, November.
    9. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    10. David E. Bloom & David Canning & Jaypee Sevilla, 2001. "The Effect of Health on Economic Growth: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 8587, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Pugno, Maurizio, 2006. "The service paradox and endogenous economic growth," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 99-115, January.
    12. 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.
    13. Konya, Laszlo, 2006. "Exports and growth: Granger causality analysis on OECD countries with a panel data approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 978-992, December.
    14. Selma J. Mushkin, 1962. "Health as an Investment," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 129-157, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Rivera, Berta & Currais, Luis, 1999. "Income Variation and Health Expenditure: Evidence for OECD Countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(3), pages 258-267, October.
    16. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    17. Vanhoudt, Patrick, 1998. "A fallacy in causality research on growth and capital accumulation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 77-81, July.
    18. Nancy Devlin & Paul Hansen, 2001. "Health care spending and economic output: Granger causality," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(8), pages 561-564.
    19. Richard Tiffin & Xavier Irz, 2006. "Is agriculture the engine of growth?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 35(1), pages 79-89, July.
    20. Patrick Sevestre & Laszlo Matyas, 2008. "The Econometrics of Panel Data," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00279977, HAL.
    21. Erkan Erdil & I. Hakan Yetkiner, 2009. "The Granger-causality between health care expenditure and output: a panel data approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 511-518.
    22. Mouawiya Al-Awad & Nasri Harb, 2005. "Financial development and economic growth in the Middle East," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(15), pages 1041-1051.
    23. Berta Rivera & Luis Currais, 1999. "Income Variation and Health Expenditure: Evidence for OECD Countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(3), pages 258-267, October.
    24. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
    25. Chien-Chiang Lee & Chun-Ping Chang, 2006. "Social security expenditures and economic growth: A heterogeneous panel application," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 33(5), pages 386-404, November.
    26. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David Weil, 1990. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," Working Papers 1990-24, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    27. Usha Nair‐Reichert & Diana Weinhold, 2001. "Causality Tests for Cross‐Country Panels: a New Look at FDI and Economic Growth in Developing Countries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(2), pages 153-171, May.
    28. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    29. Tatsuyoshi Miyakoshi & Yoshihiko Tsukuda, 2004. "The causes of the long stagnation in Japan," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 113-120.
    30. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    31. Jan- Sturm & Jakob de Haan, 2005. "Determinants of long-term growth: New results applying robust estimation and extreme bounds analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 597-617, October.
    32. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson, 2007. "Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(6), pages 925-985, December.
    33. McDonald, Scott & Roberts, Jennifer, 2002. "Growth and multiple forms of human capital in an augmented Solow model: a panel data investigation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 271-276, January.
    34. David N. Well, 2007. "Accounting for the Effect Of Health on Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1265-1306.
    35. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    36. Orazio P. Attanasio & Lucio Picci & Antonello E. Scorcu, 2000. "Saving, Growth, and Investment: A Macroeconomic Analysis Using a Panel of Countries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(2), pages 182-211, May.
    37. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    38. Joseph P. Newhouse, 1977. "Medical-Care Expenditure: A Cross-National Survey," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(1), pages 115-125.
    39. Nair-Reichert, Usha & Weinhold, Diana, 2001. "Causality Tests for Cross-Country Panels: A New Look at FDI and Economic Growth in Developing Countries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(2), pages 153-171, May.
    40. David Roodman, 2006. "How to Do xtabond2," North American Stata Users' Group Meetings 2006 8, Stata Users Group.
    41. Frank R. Lichtenberg, 1998. "Pharmaceutical Innovation, Mortality Reduction, and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 6569, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    42. Berta Rivera & Luis Currais, 2003. "The effect of health investment on growth: A causality analysis," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 9(4), pages 312-323, November.
    43. László Mátyás & Patrick Sevestre (ed.), 2008. "The Econometrics of Panel Data," Advanced Studies in Theoretical and Applied Econometrics, Springer, number 978-3-540-75892-1, July-Dece.
    44. Emile Tompa, 2002. "The Impact of Health on Productivity: Macro and Microeconomic Evidence and Policy Implications," The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress, in: Andrew Sharpe, Executive Director & France St-Hilaire, Vice-President , Research & Keith Banting, Di (ed.), The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity, volume 2, Centre for the Study of Living Standards;The Institutute for Research on Public Policy.
    45. Berta Rivera & Luis Currais, 1999. "Economic growth and health: direct impact or reverse causation?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(11), pages 761-764.
    46. Laaksonen-Craig, Susanna, 2004. "Foreign direct investments in the forest sector: implications for sustainable forest management in developed and developing countries," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3-4), pages 359-370, June.
    47. W. S. Chao & J. Buongiorno, 2002. "Exports and growth: a causality analysis for the pulp and paper industries based on international panel data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 1-13.
    48. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    49. Hsiao, Frank S.T. & Hsiao, Mei-Chu W., 2006. "FDI, exports, and GDP in East and Southeast Asia--Panel data versus time-series causality analyses," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 1082-1106, December.
    50. Atukeren Erdal, 2007. "A Causal Analysis of the R&D Interactions between the EU and the US," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 7(4), pages 1-29, December.
    51. Knowles, Stephen & Owen, P. Dorian, 1995. "Health capital and cross-country variation in income per capita in the Mankiw-Romer-Weil model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 99-106, April.
    52. Knowles, Stephen & Owen, P Dorian, 1997. "Education and Health in an Effective-Labour Empirical Growth Model," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 73(223), pages 314-328, December.
    53. Elena Podrecca & Gaetano Carmeci, 2001. "Fixed investment and economic growth: new results on causality," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 177-182.
    54. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    55. Frank R. Lichtenberg, 2002. "The Effect of Changes in Drug Utilization on Labor Supply and Per Capita Output," NBER Working Papers 9139, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    56. Windmeijer, Frank, 2005. "A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 25-51, May.
    57. Selma J. Mushkin, 1962. "Health as an Investment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70, pages 129-129.
    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. Jochen Hartwig, 2008. "Has Health Capital Formation Cured 'Baumol's Disease'? - Panel Granger Causality Evidence for OECD Countries," KOF Working papers 08-206, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    2. Hartwig, Jochen, 2012. "Testing the growth effects of structural change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 11-24.
    3. Jochen Hartwig, 2009. "A panel Granger-causality test of endogenous vs. exogenous growth," KOF Working papers 09-231, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    4. Hartwig, Jochen, 2014. "Testing the Uzawa–Lucas model with OECD data," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 144-156.
    5. Nadide Halıcı-Tülüce & İbrahim Doğan & Cüneyt Dumrul, 2016. "Is income relevant for health expenditure and economic growth nexus?," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 23-49, March.
    6. Husain, Muhammad Jami, 2010. "Contribution of health to economic development: A survey and overview," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 4, pages 1-52.
    7. Husain, Muhammad Jami, 2009. "Contribution of health to economic development: a survey and overview," Economics Discussion Papers 2009-40, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    8. Alfredo M. Pereira & Rui M. Pereira & Pedro G. Rodrigues, 2019. "Health care investments and economic performance in Portugal: an industry level analysis," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(6), pages 1174-1200, October.
    9. Erkan Erdil & I. Hakan Yetkiner, 2004. "A Panel Data Approach for Income-Health Causality," Working Papers FNU-47, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Apr 2004.
    10. Bloom, David E. & Canning, David & Kotschy, Rainer & Prettner, Klaus & Schünemann, Johannes, 2024. "Health and economic growth: Reconciling the micro and macro evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    11. Bahar Bayraktar-Sağlam, 2016. "The Stages of Human Capital and Economic Growth: Does the Direction of Causality Matter for the Rich and the Poor?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 243-302, May.
    12. Sumarto, Sudarno & De Silva, Indunil, 2014. "Being Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Dynamics of Indonesian Subnational Growth and Poverty," MPRA Paper 57824, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Celine Bonnefond, 2014. "Growth Dynamics And Conditional Convergence Among Chinese Provinces: A Panel Data Investigation Using System Gmm Estimator," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 1-25, December.
    14. Osvaldo Lagares, 2016. "Capital, Economic Growth and Relative Income Differences in Latin America," Discussion Papers 16/03, Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Gazi Hassan & Arusha Cooray & Mark Holmes, 2017. "The effect of female and male health on economic growth: cross-country evidence within a production function framework," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 659-689, March.
    16. Cristian Incaltarau & Gabriela Carmen Pascariu & Adelaide Duarte & Peter Nijkamp, 2021. "Migration, regional growth and convergence: a spatial econometric study on Romania," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 66(3), pages 497-532, June.
    17. Indunil De Silva & Sudarno Sumarto, 2015. "Dynamics Of Growth, Poverty And Human Capital: Evidence From Indonesian Sub-National Data," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 40(2), pages 1-33, June.
    18. Bernard Sarpong & Edward Nketiah-Amponsah & Nkechi S. Owoo, 2020. "Health and Economic Growth Nexus: Evidence from Selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) Countries," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(2), pages 328-347, April.
    19. Ronald Kumar & Madhukar Singh, 2014. "Role of health expenditure and ICT in a small island economy: a study of Fiji," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 2295-2311, July.
    20. Sultana, Tanzila & Dey, Sima Rani & Tareque, Mohammad, 2022. "Exploring the linkage between human capital and economic growth: A look at 141 developing and developed countries," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(3).

    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:eee:jmacro:v:32:y:2010:i:1:p:314-325. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622617 .

    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.