Abstract
This paper investigates the effects of inequality in health on economic growth in low and middle income countries. The empirical part of the paper uses an original cross-national panel data set covering 62 low and middle income countries over the period 1985 to 2007. I find a substantial and relatively robust negative effect of health inequality on income levels and income growth controlling for life expectancy, country and time fixed-effects and a large number of other effects that have been shown to matter for growth. The effect also holds if health inequality is instrumented to circumvent a potential problem of reverse causality. Hence, reducing inequality in the access to health care and to health-related information can make a substantial contribution to economic growth.
MeSH terms
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Causality
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Delivery of Health Care* / economics
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Delivery of Health Care* / ethnology
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Delivery of Health Care* / history
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Delivery of Health Care* / legislation & jurisprudence
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Economics / history
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Economics / legislation & jurisprudence
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Health Care Costs / history
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Health Care Costs / legislation & jurisprudence
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Health Care Sector* / economics
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Health Care Sector* / history
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Health Care Sector* / legislation & jurisprudence
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Health Services Accessibility* / economics
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Health Services Accessibility* / history
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Health Services Accessibility* / legislation & jurisprudence
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History, 20th Century
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History, 21st Century
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Public Health / economics
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Public Health / education
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Public Health / history
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Public Health / legislation & jurisprudence
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Social Class* / history
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Socioeconomic Factors* / history