A Causal Analysis of Life Expectancy at Birth. Evidence from Spain

Abstract

Background: From a causal point of view, there exists a set of socioeconomic indicators concerning life expectancy. The objective of this paper is to determine the indicators which exhibit a relation of causality with life expectancy at birth. Methods: Our analysis applies the Granger causality test, more specifically its version by Dumitrescu–Hurlin, starting from the information concerning life expectancy at birth and a set of socioeconomic variables corresponding to 17 Spanish regions, throughout the period 2006–2016. To do this, we used the panel data involving the information provided by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare (MHCSW) and the National Institute of Statistics (NIS). Results: Per capita income, and the rate of hospital beds, medical staff and nurses Granger-cause the variable “life expectancy at birth”, according to the Granger causality test applied to panel data (Dumitrescu–Hurlin’s version). Conclusions: Life expectancy at birth has become one of the main indicators able to measure the performance of a country’s health system. This analysis facilitates the identification of those factors which exhibit a unidirectional Granger-causality relationship with life expectancy at birth. Therefore, this paper provides useful information for the management of public health resources from the point of view of the maximization of social benefits.

The Relative Importance of Globalization and Public Expenditure on Life Expectancy in Europe: An Approach Based on MARS Methodology

“…In relation to the first dimension, health resources , it is usual to employ either some expressions of health expenditure (such as total expenditure [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], public expenditure [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ] or pharmaceutical expenditure [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]) or some expressions of health resources in physical terms (e.g., the number of doctors and nurses [ 4 , 10 , 22 ] or the number of beds [ 11 , 23 ]).…”

“…Thirdly, among the socioeconomic factors , most studies in this field consider the gross domestic product (GDP), per capita income [ 12 , 22 , 24 , 25 , 26 ] or some indicators of income distribution [ 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Education [ 13 , 30 , 31 ], unemployment [ 32 , 33 ], inflation [ 34 ], gross capital formation [ 35 ], pollution [ 12 , 35 , 36 ], environmental quality indicator [ 37 ] and financial development [ 38 ] are other socioeconomic factors included in this type of empirical research.…”

The Effects of Electricity Production on Industrial Development and Sustainable Economic Growth: A VAR Analysis for BRICS Countries

“…The main reason for this is that they have the status of developing countries. The most important objective for them is to reach the level of developed countries, since economic development, among other factors, can improve population health status [41][42][43]. Hence, electricity generation is thought to serve this purpose seriously.…”

Life Expectancy at Birth in Europe: An Econometric Approach Based on Random Forests Methodology

“…Previous literature, starting from Auster et al [27], has grouped the determinants of health status in developed countries into three categories-specifically, socio-economic factors (gross domestic product, per capita income, education, income distribution, unemployment and poverty, among others), health care resources (total, public, or private health care expenditure, expenditure on pharmaceutical products, doctors, nurses, and hospital beds), and lifestyle-related factors (such as consumption of alcohol and tobacco, and some proxies for diet such as, for example, consumption of sugar, calories and vegetables) [28,29].…”