IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cch/wpaper/140002.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Changing Healthcare Capital-To-Labor Ratios: Evidence and Implications for Bending the Cost Curve in Canada and Beyond

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Nauenberg

Abstract

Healthcare capital-to-labor ratios are examined for the 10 provincial single-payer health care plans across Canada. The data show an increasing trend - particularly during the period 1997-2009 during which the ratio as much as doubled from 3% to 6%. Multivariate analyses indicate that every percentage point uptick in the rate of increase in this ratio is associated with an uptick in the rate of increase of real per capita provincial government healthcare expenditures by approximately $31 (p less than 0.01). While the magnitude of this relationship is not large, it is still substantial enough to warrant notice: every percentage point decrease in the upward trend of the capital-to-labor ratio might be associated with a one percentage point decrease in the upward trend of per capita government healthcare expenditures. An uptick since 1997 in the rate of increase in per capita prescription drug expenditures is also associated with a decline in the trend of increasing per capita healthcare costs. While there has been some recent evidence of a slowing in the rate of health care expenditure increase, it is still unclear whether this reflects just a pause, after which the rate of increase will return to its baseline level, or a long-term shift; therefore, it is important to continue to explore various policy avenues to affect the rate of change going forward.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Nauenberg, 2014. "Changing Healthcare Capital-To-Labor Ratios: Evidence and Implications for Bending the Cost Curve in Canada and Beyond," Working Papers 140002, Canadian Centre for Health Economics, revised Jul 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:cch:wpaper:140002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.canadiancentreforhealtheconomics.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Nauenberg3.pdf
    File Function: Third version, 2014
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce Hollingsworth, 2008. "The measurement of efficiency and productivity of health care delivery," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(10), pages 1107-1128, October.
    2. Martin Gaynor & James B. Rebitzer & Lowell J. Taylor, 2004. "Physician Incentives in Health Maintenance Organizations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(4), pages 915-931, August.
    3. Alan M. Garber & Jonathan Skinner, 2008. "Is American Health Care Uniquely Inefficient?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(4), pages 27-50, Fall.
    4. Amitabh Chandra & Jonathan Holmes & Jonathan Skinner, 2013. "Is This Time Different? The Slowdown in Healthcare Spending," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 44(2 (Fall)), pages 261-323.
    5. Damiaan Persyn & Joakim Westerlund, 2008. "Error-correction–based cointegration tests for panel data," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 8(2), pages 232-241, June.
    6. Marc Pomp & Suncica Vujic, 2008. "Rising health spending, new medical technology and the Baumol effect," CPB Discussion Paper 115.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    7. Okunade, Albert A. & Murthy, Vasudeva N. R., 2002. "Technology as a 'major driver' of health care costs: a cointegration analysis of the Newhouse conjecture," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 147-159, January.
    8. Marris, Robin, 1984. "Comparing the Incomes of Nations: A Critique of the International Comparison Project," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 40-57, March.
    9. António Afonso & Miguel St. Aubyn, 2006. "Relative Efficiency of Health Provision: a DEA Approach with Non-discretionary Inputs," Working Papers Department of Economics 2006/33, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    10. Andrew Sharpe & Celeste Bradley & Hans Messinger, 2007. "The Measurement of Output and Productivity in the Health Care Sector in Canada: An Overview," CSLS Research Reports 2007-06, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    11. Frank R. Lichtenberg, 2007. "The Impact of New Drugs on US Longevity and Medical Expenditure, 1990–2003: Evidence from Longitudinal, Disease-Level Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 438-443, May.
    12. Di Matteo, Livio & Di Matteo, Rosanna, 1998. "Evidence on the determinants of Canadian provincial government health expenditures: 1965-1991," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 211-228, April.
    13. William Baumol, 1996. "Children of performing arts, the economic dilemma: The climbing costs of health care and education," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 20(3), pages 183-206, September.
    14. Marc Pomp & Suncica Vujic, 2008. "Rising health spending, new medical technology and the Baumol effect," CPB Discussion Paper 115, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    15. Livio Di Matteo, 2010. "The sustainability of public health expenditures: evidence from the Canadian federation," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 11(6), pages 569-584, December.
    16. 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.
    17. Froot, Kenneth A., 1989. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation with Cross-Sectional Dependence and Heteroskedasticity in Financial Data," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(3), pages 333-355, September.
    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. Eric Nauenberg, 2014. "Changing healthcare capital-to-labor ratios: evidence and implications for bending the cost curve in Canada and beyond," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 339-353, December.
    2. Felipa de Mello-Sampayo & Sofia de Sousa-Vale, 2014. "Financing Health Care Expenditure in the OECD Countries: Evidence from a Heterogeneous, Cross-Sectional Dependent Panel," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 61(2), pages 207-225.
    3. Felipa de Mello-Sampayo & Sofia de Sousa-Vale, 2014. "Financing Health Care Expenditure in the OECD Countries: Evidence from a Heterogeneous, Cross-Sectional Dependent Panel," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 61(2), pages 207-225, March.
    4. Astolfi, Roberto & Lorenzoni, Luca & Oderkirk, Jillian, 2012. "Informing policy makers about future health spending: A comparative analysis of forecasting methods in OECD countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(1), pages 1-10.
    5. Baltagi, Badi H. & Moscone, Francesco, 2010. "Health care expenditure and income in the OECD reconsidered: Evidence from panel data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 804-811, July.
    6. repec:rim:rimwps:20-04 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Kamil Dybczak & Bartosz Przywara, 2010. "The role of technology in health care expenditure in the EU," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 400, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    8. Livio Di Matteo & Thomas Barbiero, 2020. "Spend Less, Get More? Explaining Health Spending and Outcome Differences Between Canada and Italy," Review of Economic Analysis, Digital Initiatives at the University of Waterloo Library, vol. 12(4), pages 403-438, December.
    9. Rubinstein Alexander, 2012. "Studying “Sponsored Goods” in Cultural Sector Symptoms and Consequences of Baumol’s Cost Disease," Creative and Knowledge Society, Sciendo, vol. 2(2), pages 35-57, December.
    10. Innocenti, Federico & McCormick, Barry & Nicodemo, Catia, 2025. "Gatekeeping in primary care: Analysing GP referral patterns and specialist consultations in the NHS," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    11. Fabio Pammolli & Francesco Porcelli & Francesco Vidoli & Monica Auteri & Guido Borà, 2017. "La spesa sanitaria delle Regioni in Italia - Saniregio2017," Working Papers CERM 01-2017, Competitività, Regole, Mercati (CERM).
    12. Nusair, Salah A., 2019. "Oil price and inflation dynamics in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 997-1011.
    13. Fromentin, Vincent & Leon, Florian, 2019. "Remittances and credit in developed and developing countries: A dynamic panel analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 310-320.
    14. Gautam, Tej K. & Paudel, Krishna P., 2018. "The demand for natural gas in the Northeastern United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 890-898.
    15. Tan, Juan & Zou, Xing-Yun & Zhang, Xin & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2025. "Does national ESG performance move together with climate warming?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 19-29.
    16. Böhm, Sebastian & Grossmann, Volker & Strulik, Holger, 2021. "R&D-driven medical progress, health care costs, and the future of human longevity," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    17. Usman, Muhammad & Khalid, Khaizran & Mehdi, Muhammad Abuzar, 2021. "What determines environmental deficit in Asia? Embossing the role of renewable and non-renewable energy utilization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1165-1176.
    18. Iheonu, Chimere & Asongu, Simplice & Odo, Kingsley & Ojiem, Patrick, 2020. "Financial Sector Development and Investment in Selected ECOWAS Countries: Empirical Evidence using Heterogeneous Panel Data Method," MPRA Paper 107102, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Joan Costa‐Font & Marin Gemmill & Gloria Rubert, 2011. "Biases in the healthcare luxury good hypothesis?: a meta‐regression analysis," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 174(1), pages 95-107, January.
    20. Munir, Qaiser & Lean, Hooi Hooi & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in the ASEAN-5 countries: A cross-sectional dependence approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    21. Le, Thai-Ha & Tran-Nam, Binh, 2018. "Trade liberalization, financial modernization and economic development: An empirical study of selected Asia–Pacific countries," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 343-355.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cch:wpaper:140002. 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: Adrian Rohit Dass (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cchetca.html .

    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.