Which Institutions are Good for Your Health? The Deep Determinants of Comparative Cross-country Health Status

Dorian Owen and Stephen Knowles ()

No 811, Working Papers from University of Otago, Department of Economics

Abstract: We extend the literature on the deep determinants of economic development by focusing on life expectancy, instead of income per capita, as an indicator of economic development, and by examining the role of informal, as well as formal, institutions. Our empirical results suggest that formal and informal institutions are substitutes. Improving informal institutions has positive effects on life expectancy that are statistically significant for most countries and stronger than the effects of improving formal institutions. The gains from improving informal institutions are greatest for countries in which institutions are weakest. Geographical factors also help explain cross-country variation in life expectancy.

Keywords: Life expectancy; health; deep determinants; institutions; social capital; geography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2008-12, Revised 2008-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://www.otago.ac.nz/economics/research/otago077115.pdf First version, 2008 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Which Institutions are Good for Your Health? The Deep Determinants of Comparative Cross-country Health Status (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:otg:wpaper:0811

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