Health and Economic Development: Evidence from the Introduction of Public Health Care

Anthony Strittmatter and Uwe Sunde

No 5901, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper investigates the causal effect of changes in health on economic development using a long panel of European countries. Identification is based on the particular timing of the introduction of public health care systems in different countries, which is the random outcome of a political process. We document that the introduction of public health care systems had a significant immediate effect on the dynamics of infant mortality and crude death rates. The findings suggest that a reduction in infant mortality or crude death rates exhibited a positive effect on growth in income per capita and increased population growth.

Keywords: public health care; economic development; growth; mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 J10 N13 O11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 55 pages
Date: 2011-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published - published in: Journal of Population Economics, 2013, 26 (4), 1549-1584

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Related works:
Journal Article: Health and economic development—evidence from the introduction of public health care (2013)
Working Paper: Health and economic development-evidence from the introduction of public health care (2013)
Working Paper: Health and Economic Development - Evidence from the Introduction of Public Health Care (2011)
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