COVID-19 mortality and health expenditures across European countries: The positive correlation puzzle

Serge Blondel and Radu Vranceanu

No WP2005, ESSEC Working Papers from ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School

Abstract: The positive correlation between health share expenditures and COVID-19 cumulative case fatalities in a cross-section of 31 European countries is puzzling. The positive relationships is also detected in weighted OLS and IV models that control for many usual suspects of the COVID-19 mortality: (1) health indicators (personal risk factors, medical resources), (2) virus ease of circulation, (3) macroeconomic variables related to the economic development and social orientation of the country. COVID-19 case fatalities are lower in countries with significant resources dedicated to health care (hospital beds and medical doctors); the contribution of virus circulation factors is less significant. Policy implications follow.

Keywords: COVID-19; health care systems; Europe; efficiency; mortality; health policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2020-08-01, Revised 2020-08-01
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Related works:
Working Paper: COVID-19 mortality and health expenditures across European countries: The positive correlation puzzle (2021)
Working Paper: COVID-19 mortality and health expenditures across European countries: the positive correlation puzzle (2020)
Working Paper: COVID-19 mortality and health expenditures across European countries:The positive correlation puzzle (2020)
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