Kouassi Eugene, Akinkugbe Oluyele, Kutlo Noni Oratile, Brou J M Bosson
Department of Economics, University Felix Houphouet Boigny (UFHB), Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
School of Economics and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Int J Health Econ Manag. 2018 Mar;18(1):47-66. doi: 10.1007/s10754-017-9223-y. Epub 2017 Aug 30.
This paper investigates the long run relationship between health care expenditure and economic growth, using panel data for 14 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries over the period 1995-2012. The non-stationarity and cointegration properties between health expenditure per capita and GDP per capita were examined, controlling for cross section dependence and heterogeneity between countries. Our results suggest that health expenditure and GDP per capita are non-stationary and cointegrated. These findings seem to confirm the notion that health expenditure is non-discretionary-health is a necessary good-in the SADC region. The estimated income elasticity is below unity but higher than what was obtained for the OECD regional grouping. The policy implication of our result is that adequate health care service provision should be a key objective of governmental intervention in the SADC region.
本文利用1995年至2012年期间南部非洲发展共同体（SADC）14个成员国的面板数据，研究了医疗保健支出与经济增长之间的长期关系。在控制国家间横截面依赖性和异质性的情况下，检验了人均卫生支出与人均国内生产总值之间的非平稳性和协整特性。我们的结果表明，卫生支出和人均国内生产总值是非平稳的且存在协整关系。这些发现似乎证实了这样一种观点，即在南部非洲发展共同体地区，卫生支出是不可自由支配的——健康是一种必需品。估计的收入弹性低于1，但高于经合组织地区分组的结果。我们研究结果的政策含义是，提供充足的医疗保健服务应是南部非洲发展共同体地区政府干预的一个关键目标。
