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A closer look at the relationship between life expectancy and economic growth

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  • Raouf Boucekkine
  • Bity Diene
  • Theophile Azomahou

Abstract

We first provide a nonparametric inference of the relationship between life expectancy and economic growth on an historical data for 18 countries over the period 1820-2005. The obtained shape shows up convexity for low enough values of life expectancy and concavity for large enough values. We then study this relationship on a benchmark model combining "per- petual youth" and learning-by-investing. In such a benchmark, the generated relationship between life expectancy and economic growth is shown to be strictly increasing and concave. We finally examine a model departing from "perpetual youth" by assuming age-dependent survival probabilities. We show that life-cycle behavior combined with age-dependent sur- vival laws can reproduce our empirical finding.

Suggested Citation

  • Raouf Boucekkine & Bity Diene & Theophile Azomahou, 2007. "A closer look at the relationship between life expectancy and economic growth," Working Papers 2007_24, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    • Handle: RePEc:gla:glaewp:2007_24
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    5. Wang, Zhaohua & Asghar, Muhammad Mansoor & Zaidi, Syed Anees Haider & Nawaz, Kishwar & Wang, Bo & Zhao, Wehui & Xu, Fengxing, 2020. "The dynamic relationship between economic growth and life expectancy: Contradictory role of energy consumption and financial development in Pakistan," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 257-266.
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    7. Maik T. Schneider & Ralph Winkler, 2021. "Growth and Welfare under Endogenous Lifetimes," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(4), pages 1339-1384, October.
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    9. Aditya Goenka & Saqib Jafarey & William Pouliot, 2012. "Pollution, Mortality and Optimal Environmental Policy," Discussion Papers 12-05, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    10. Luciano Fanti & Mimmo Iannelli & Piero Manfredi, 2013. "Neoclassical growth with endogenous age distribution. Poverty vs low-fertility traps as steady states of demographic transitions," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1457-1484, October.
    11. Kuhn, Michael & Prettner, Klaus, 2016. "Growth and welfare effects of health care in knowledge-based economies," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 100-119.
    12. Mathieu Lefèbvre & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2019. "Premature mortality and poverty measurement in an OLG economy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 621-664, April.
    13. Augeraud-Véron, Emmanuelle & D'Albis, Hippolyte, 2009. "Continuous-Time Overlapping Generations Models," TSE Working Papers 09-047, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    14. Zhiheng Chen & Yuting Ma & Junyi Hua & Yuanhong Wang & Hongpeng Guo, 2021. "Impacts from Economic Development and Environmental Factors on Life Expectancy: A Comparative Study Based on Data from Both Developed and Developing Countries from 2004 to 2016," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-18, August.
    15. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, 2023. "Years of life lost to revolution and war in Iran," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 2061-2103, November.
    16. Goenka, Aditya & Jafarey, Saqib & Pouliot, William, 2020. "Pollution, mortality and time consistent abatement taxes," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-15.
    17. Growiec, Jakub & Groth, Christian, 2015. "On aggregating human capital across heterogeneous cohorts," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 21-38.
    18. Humaira Kamal Pasha, 2021. "Education Attainment and Economic Growth of Asian Developing Countries," Working Papers hal-03230025, HAL.
    19. Katarzyna Growiec & Jakub Growiec & Bogumił Kamiński, 2020. "Emergence of Small-World Networks in an Overlapping-Generations Model of Social Dynamics, Trust and Economic Performance," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 23(2), pages 1-8.
    20. David Oxborrow & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2017. "Closing the Small Open Economy Model: A Demographic Approach," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 44-75, February.
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    22. Wei-Bin Zhang, 2014. "Endogenous population with human and physical capital accumulation," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 61(3), pages 231-252, September.
    23. Katarzyna Growiec & Jakub Growiec & Bogumil Kaminski, 2018. "Social Network Dynamics: Individual-Level Mechanisms and Aggregate Outcomes," KAE Working Papers 2018-036, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis.
    24. MAHYAR Hami, 2016. "Economic Growth And Life Expectancy: The Case Of Iran," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 11(1), pages 80-87, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Life expectancy; economic growth; perpetual youth; age-dependent mortality; nonparametric estimation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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