The Dynamics of Financial Development, Globalization, Economic Growth and Life Expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa

The importance of life expectancy is recognized in the development economics literature because of its increasing effects on labor productivity and economic growth in in long-run. However, no published study to date empirically examines the nonlinear relationships between globalization, financial development, economic growth and life expectancy in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Therefore, our study intends to fill this gap by using non-parametric cointegration test and multivariate Granger causality test towards a non-linear empirical understanding of the factors affecting the life expectancy. We consider the case of 16 Sub-Saharan African economies using annual data over the period 1970-2012. The empirical analysis indicates that financial development, globalization and economic growth appear to have a positive impact upon life expectancy in Sub-Saharan African economies, except for Gabon and Togo. Our empirical findings may provide insightful policy implications towards improving population health conditions which are vital for promoting the productivity of labor force and long-run economic growth in Sub-Saharan African countries. In light of these policy implications, governments should incorporate globalization, financial development and economic growth as key economic instruments in formulating sustainable developmental policy to promote life expectancy for the people in Sub-Saharan African countries.