The core determinants of health expenditure in the African context: Some econometric evidence for policy

Murthy, Vasudeva N. R.; Okunade, Albert A.

doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2008.10.001

Cited by 95 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…Thus, as predicted by our theoretical construct, individuals with better general health status, all else being equal, spend less on healthcare. This is consistent with the finding that healthcare in Africa is primarily curative (Murthy and Okunade 2009). The corresponding elasticity coefficient is -0.03 (inelastic), which indicates that healthcare expenditure is marginally sensitive to perceived health status.…”

Section: Regression Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The positive relationship between healthcare spending and real income has also been found for an African-wide study (Murthy and Okunade 2009). The coefficient is significant at 5 per cent level, with an elasticity coefficient of 0.41, suggesting that healthcare is a normal good.…”

Section: Regression Resultssupporting

confidence: 61%

“…Surprisingly, the variable had the highest elasticity coefficient, -0.74. This contrasts with a cross country study on Africa, which found that national healthcare expenditure is not significantly impacted by the proportion of the older population within a country (Murthy and Okunade 2009). Also, as argued by Zhang and Imai (2007), it is the ageing process and the likelihood of death as one ages that leads to increased healthcare spending not the age of an individual.…”

Section: Regression Resultsmentioning

confidence: 75%

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Gold Mining Pollution and the Cost of Private Healthcare: The Case of Ghana

Akpalu

Normanyo

2017

Ecological Economics

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This study has been prepared within the UNU-WIDER project on 'Extractives for development (E4D)', which is part of a larger research project on 'Macro-economic management (M-EM)' . Terms of use: Documents in Copyright © UNU-WIDER 2016Information and requests: publications@wider.unu.edu ISSN 1798-7237 ISBN 978-92-9256-165-9 Typescript prepared by Lesley Ellen.The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research provides economic analysis and policy advice with the aim of promoting sustainable and equitable development. The Institute began operations in 1985 in Helsinki, Finland, as the first research and training centre of the United Nations University. Today it is a unique blend of think tank, research institute, and UN agency-providing a range of services from policy advice to governments as well as freely available original research.The Institute is funded through income from an endowment fund with additional contributions to its work programme from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Katajanokanlaituri 6 B, 00160 Helsinki, FinlandThe views expressed in this paper are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute or the United Nations University, nor the programme/project donors. Abstract:To attract greater levels of foreign direct investment into their gold mining sectors, many mineral-rich countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been willing to overlook serious instances of mining company non-compliance with environmental standards. These lapses in regulatory oversight and enforcement have led to high levels of pollution in many mining communities. The likelihood is high that the risk of pollution-related sicknesses, such as skin infections, upper and lower respiratory disorders, and cardiovascular diseases, will necessitate increasingly high healthcare expenditures in affected communities. In this study, we propose and estimate a hedonic-type model that relates healthcare expenditure to the degree of residents' exposure to mining pollution using data obtained on gold mining in Ghana. The empirical results confirm that, after controlling for factors such as current and long-term health status, increased mining pollution leads to higher healthcare expenditure.

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Section: Regression Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Regression Resultssupporting

confidence: 61%

Section: Regression Resultsmentioning

confidence: 75%

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Gold Mining Pollution and the Cost of Private Healthcare: The Case of Ghana

Akpalu

Normanyo

2017

Ecological Economics

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“…Moreover, often a substantial proportion of development assistance is targeted at the health sector and aims to shift government priorities. Murthy and Okunade (2009) demonstrate that aid is an important determinant of health care expenditures. It is important to note that part of development assistance for health is targeted at the non-governmental sector and is not reflected in the data on public health expenditures.…”

Section: Aidmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…While most studies focus on OECD countries, Okunade (2005) and Murthy and Okunade (2009) confirm the importance of GDP for health expenditures in Africa.…”

Section: Incomementioning

confidence: 99%

Extending the concept of the resource curse: Natural resources and public spending on health

Cockx

Francken

2014

Ecological Economics

113

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This paper extends the concept of the resource curse by studying whether and through which transmission channels natural resource wealth affects social spending. Even though the availability of vast natural capital reserves has commonly been linked to the neglect of human development, most of the literature has continued to focus on economic performance. This paper is the first to empirically investigate the link between natural resource wealth and public health expenditures in light of the hypothesis that resource wealth as a source of unearned state income enhances state autonomy and increases volatility, which leads to policies that fail to prioritize human development. Using a large panel dataset of world countries covering the period from 1995 to 2009, we find a robust, significant inverse relationship between natural resource dependence, and even abundance, and public health spending over time. The effect remains significant after controlling for state autonomy, volatility, and other factors.These findings have implications for national authorities as well as the extractive industry. Governments should be made accountable for natural resource wealth and correct taxation could provide additional resources, earmarked for health. The extractive industry could increase their investments in sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility operations, specifically in the health sector.

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Health Care Expenditure and Income: A Global Perspective

et al. 2016

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This paper investigates the long-run economic relationship between health care expenditure and income in the world using data on 167 countries over the period 1995-2012, collected from the World Bank data set. The analysis is carried using panel data methods that allow one to account for unobserved heterogeneity, temporal persistence, and crosssection dependence in the form of either a common factor model or a spatial process. We estimate a global measure of income elasticity using all countries in the sample, and for sub-groups of countries, depending on their geo-political area and income. Our findings suggest that at the global level, health care is a necessity rather than a luxury. However, results vary greatly depending on the sub-sample analysed. Our findings seem to suggest that size of income elasticity depends on the position of different countries in the global income distribution, with poorer countries showing higher elasticity.

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The core determinants of health expenditure in the African context: Some econometric evidence for policy

Cited by 95 publications

References 23 publications

Gold Mining Pollution and the Cost of Private Healthcare: The Case of Ghana

Gold Mining Pollution and the Cost of Private Healthcare: The Case of Ghana

Extending the concept of the resource curse: Natural resources and public spending on health

Health Care Expenditure and Income: A Global Perspective

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