Economic complexity and health outcomes: A global perspective

Trung Vu

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Does a country’s economic structure matter for health outcomes? This study, for the first time, examines the extent to which the mix of products a country produces and exports affects population health. For this purpose, I employ the Economic Complexity index (ECI) that relies on the sophistication of export bundles to extract information on the availability of productive capabilities within an economy. Using unbalanced panel data for up to 112 countries covering the period from 1970 to 2015, I find that countries exporting complex products have better health status than countries whose economic structure is mainly based on unsophisticated goods. To account for endogeneity concerns, I exploit regional averages of ECI in neighbouring countries to isolate the plausibly exogenous component of complexity that helps achieve a causal interpretation. The results lend credence to the main proposition that increased ECI is associated with health improvements. The main findings offers several implications for designing health and industrial development policies.

Keywords: economic complexity; health outcomes; life expectancy; mortality. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 J21 O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-06-19
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (49)

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Journal Article: Economic complexity and health outcomes: A global perspective (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:101237

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