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The U.S. health production function: evidence from 2001 to 2009

International Journal of Health Economics and Management volume 16, pages 51–64 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

This study estimates the impact of the 2007 financial crisis upon U.S. health as measured by age adjusted death rates. OLS regression results suggest that the average death rate was lower in the post-crisis period than the pre-crisis period. The majority of the average decline in the death rate was a result of the time period and not a result of changes in the values of the underlying explanatory variables. We continue to find this result even adding state fixed effects. Contrary to other research, we find that the unemployment rate has no statistically significant impact on death rates either for the U.S. as a whole or for any states individually. Rather, the impact of the financial crisis is felt via year fixed effects that increased over time during the post-crisis period.

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Notes

  1. For example, Auster et al. (1969), Grossman (1972), Newhouse and Friedlander (1980), Rosen and Taubman (1982), Leigh (1983), Berger and Leight (1989), Kenkel (1991) and Thornton (2002, 2011).

  2. Regression results available upon request.

  3. Again, we haven’t included these regression results but they are available upon request.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, USA

    Hui-Kuan Tseng

  2. Missouri State University, Springfield, USA

    Reed Olsen

Authors
  1. Hui-Kuan Tseng
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  2. Reed Olsen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hui-Kuan Tseng.

Appendix—sources of data

Appendix—sources of data

Death rate: Measured by age adjusted death rate. Sources: www.cdc.gov

Personal Health Care Expenditures: Measured by real personal health care expenditures per capita. Sources: www.cms.gov, www.bea.gov, www.census.gov

Hospital Expenditures: Measured by real hospital expenditures per capita. Sources: www.cms.gov, www.bea.gov, www.census.gov

Tobacco Consumption: Measured by per capita tobacco consumption; packs per person sold annually. Sources: www.cdc.gov and www.taxadmin.org/fta/tobacco

Alcohol Consumption by State: Measured by per capita alcohol consumption; gallons of ethanol per person annually. Sources: pubs.niaaa.nih.gov

Violent Crime: Measured by violent crime per 100,000 population; includes murder, rape, robbery, and assault. Sources: www.ucrdatatool.gov/

Property Crime: Measured by property crime per 100,000 population; includes burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. Sources: www.ucrdatatool.gov/

Bachelor’s Degree: Measured by percent of the population with a bachelor’s degree or more. Sources: nces.ed.gov

Personal Income Per Capita: Measured by real personal income per capita. Sources: www.cms.gov, www.bea.gov, www.census.gov

Manufacturing Employment: Measured by manufacturing jobs as a percent of total jobs. Sources: www.bls.gov

White: Measured by percent of the population that is non-Hispanic White. Sources: www.cms.gov/

Black: Measured by percent of the population that is African American. Sources: www.cms.gov/

Unemployment rate: Measured by annual unemployment rate. Sources: www.bls.gov

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Tseng, HK., Olsen, R. The U.S. health production function: evidence from 2001 to 2009. Int J Health Econ Manag. 16, 51–64 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-015-9180-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-015-9180-2

Keywords

  • Health production function
  • Financial crisis