Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Causal Links Among Economic Growth, Education and Health: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries

  • Published:
Journal of the Knowledge Economy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper attempts to answer the question: How does higher education and improved health contribute to economic growth? For this purpose, the causal relationship among health, education and economic growth is analysed using simultaneous equations models on a sample composed of 108 developed and developing countries with data spanning the period 1990–2017. Results indicate bidirectional causality between health and economic growth in low- and middle-income countries, while unidirectional causality running from economic growth to health is supported in high-income countries. A bidirectional causal relationship between education and economic growth appears in all groups of countries. For the nexus among health and education, results show bidirectional causality in middle- and high-income countries and a unidirectional causality running from education to health in low-income ones.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acemoglu, D., & Johnson, S. (2007). Diseases and development: The effect of life expectancy on economic growth. Journal of Political Economy, 115, 925–985.

  • Adu, G. (2013). Determinants of economic growth in Ghana: parametric and nonparametric investigations. The Journal of Developing Areas, 47(2), 277–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akram, N., Padda, I. H., & Khan, M. (2008). The long term impact of health on economic growth in Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review 47: 4 Part II (Winter 2008), 487–500.

  • Aghion, P., Howitt, P., & Murtin, F. (2010). The relationship between health and growth: When Lucas Meets Nelson-phelps. NBER Working Paper 15813. http://www.nber.org/papers/w15813.

  • Anyanwu, J. C., & Erhijakpor, A. E. O. (2007). Health expenditures and health outcomes in Africa. Economic Research Working Paper, No 91.

  • Arthur, W. B. (2013). Complexity economics: A different framework for economic thought. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

  • Barro, R. J. (1996). Health, human capital and economic growth, Paper for the Program on Public Policy and Health. Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization. Washington: Pan American Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. S. (2007). Health as human capital: synthesis and extensions. Oxford Economic Papers, 59(3), 379–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, D., & Canning, D. (2005). Health and economic growth: reconciling the micro and macro evidence. CDDRL Working Papers, no. 42.

  • Bloom, D., & Canning, D. (2008). Population health and economic growth, Commission on Development and Growth. World Bank Working Paper, no. 24.

  • Bloom, D. E., Canning, D., & Sevilla, J. (2004). The effect of health on economic growth: a production function approach. World Development, 32(1), 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, D. E., Canning, D., & Sevilla, J. (2001). The effect of health on economic growth: Theory and evidence, NBER Working Paper No. 8587, Nov. 2001. New York: NBER.

  • Bloom, D. E., Kuhn, M., & Prettner, K. (2018). Health and economic growth. Working Paper No. 153. Cambridge: Program on the Global Demography of Aging, Harvard University Available at: https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wpcontent/uploads/sites/1288/2018/04/153_Health_and_Economic_Growth.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bo-nai, F., & Xiong-Xiang, L. (2006). A study on the rate of contribution of education investment to the economic growth in China. Frontiers of Education in China, 1(4), 521–532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brunello, G., Fabbri, D., & Fort, M. (2013). The causal effect of education on body mass: evidence from Europe. Journal of Labor Economics, 31(1), 195–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Case, A., Fertig, A., & Paxson, C. (2005). The lasting impact of childhood and circumstance. Journal of Health Economics, 24(3), 365–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crespo, L., López-Noval, B., & Mira, P. (2014). Compulsory schooling, education, depression and memory: New evidence from SHARELIFE. Economics of Education Review, 43, 36–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, D., Deaton, A., & Lleras-Muney, A. (2006). The determinants of mortality. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(3), 97–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Mello, L. R. (1997). Foreign direct investment in developing countries and growth: a selective survey. Journal of Development Studies, 34(1), 1–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhrifi, A. (2015). Foreign direct investment, technological innovation and economic growth: empirical evidence using simultaneous-equations model. International Review of Economics, 62(4), 381–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhrifi, A. (2018a). Does environmental degradation, institutional quality, and economic development matter for health? Evidence from African countries. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 10(3), 1098–1113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhrifi, A. (2018b). Health care expenditure, economic growth and infant mortality: evidence from developed and developing countries. CEPAL Review, 25(4), 69–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dhrifi, A. (2018c). Public health expenditure and child mortality: does institutional quality matter? Journal of the Knowledge Economy., 11, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-018-0567-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterly, W. (1999). The ghost of financing gap: testing the growth model of the international financial institutions. Journal of Development Economics, 60(2), 423–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filmer, D., & Pritchett, L. (1997). Child mortality and public spending on health: how much does money matter? Working Paper, No. 1864. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filmer, D., & Pritchett, L. (1999). The impact of public spending on health: does money matter. Social Science and Medicine, 49(10), 1309–1323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, M., Karlsson, M., & Nilsson, T. (2013). Effects of compulsory schooling on mortality: evidence from Sweden. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(8), 3596–3618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, J. M. (2015). New evidence of the effects of education on health in the US: compulsory schooling laws revisited. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 127, 101–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, M. (1972). On the concept of health capital and the demand for health. The Journal of Political Economy.

  • Gyimah-Brempong, K., & Wilson, M. (2004). Health and economic growth in Sub-Saharan African and OECD countries. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 44, 296–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanushek, E. A. (2013). Economic growth in developing countries: the role of human capital. Economics of Education Review, 37, 204–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hashmati, A. (2001). On the causality between GDP and health care expenditure in augmented Solow growth model. Stockholm: Department of Economic Statistics Stockholm school of economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Issa, H., & Ouattara, B. (2005). The effect of private and public health on infant mortality rates: does the level of development matters? May 2005. Available http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.63.9133&rep=rep1&type=pdf.

  • Jamison, D. T., Sandbu, M. E., & Wang, J. (2004). Why has infant mortality decreased at such different rates in different countries? Disease Control Priorities Project (DCPP), Working Paper No. 14. Bethesda: DCPP.

  • Kenkel, D. (1991). Health behavior, Health knowledge and schooling. Journal of Political Economy, 99(2), 287–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, S., & Owen, P. (1997). Education and health in an effective-labour empirical growth model. The Economic Record, 73(223), 314–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, A. B., & Lindhal, M. (2001). Education for growth: why and for whom? Journal of Economic Literature, 6(2), 289–339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, H., & Huang, L. (2009). Health, education and economic growth in China: empirical findings and implication. China Economic Review, 20(3), 374–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mankiw, G., Romer, D., & Weil, D. (1992). A contribution on the empirics of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107, 407–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazumder, B. (2008). Does education improve health? A reexamination of the evidence from compulsory schooling laws. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Economic Perspectives, Q2, 2–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, S., & Roberts, J. (2002). Growth and multiple forms of human capital in an augmented Solow model: a panel data investigation. Economics Letters, 74(2), 271–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mostafizur, R. (2010). Causal relationship among education expenditure, Health Expenditure and GDP: A Case study of Bangladesh. International Journal of Economics and Finance.

  • Oreopoulos, P. (2007). Do dropouts drop out too soon? Wealth, health and happiness from compulsory schooling. Journal of Public Economics, 91(11–12), 2213–2229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preston, S. (1975). The changing relation between mortality and the level of economic development. Population Studies, 29(2), 231–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preston, S. H. (1976). Mortality patterns in national populations. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pritchett, L., & Summers, L. H. (1996). Wealthier is healthier. Journal of Human Resources, 31(4), 841–868.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, C. E., & Mirowsky, J. (1999). Refining the association between education and health: the effects of quantity, credentials, and selectivity. Demography, 36(4), 445–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, C. E., & Wu, C. (1995). The links between education and health. American Sociological Review, 60(5), 719–745.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, T. P. (1999). Health and schooling investments in Africa. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13(3), 67–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solow, R. M. (1956). A contribution to the theory of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 70(2), 65–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suri, T., Boozer, M. A., Ranis, G., & Stewart, F. (2011). Paths to success: the relationship between human development and economic growth. World Development, 39(4), 506–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO. (2001). Macroeconomics and health: investing in health for economic development. Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. Geneva.: WHO.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO. (2008). The top ten causes of death, Fact Sheet no. 310, available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/index.html.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Healthcare Services and Hospital Administration, College of Business, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Abdelhafidh Dhrifi, Saleh Alnahdi & Raouf Jaziri

  2. Healthcare Services and Hospital Management Department, College of Business, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Saleh Alnahdi & Raouf Jaziri

Authors
  1. Abdelhafidh Dhrifi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Saleh Alnahdi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Raouf Jaziri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abdelhafidh Dhrifi.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dhrifi, A., Alnahdi, S. & Jaziri, R. The Causal Links Among Economic Growth, Education and Health: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries. J Knowl Econ 12, 1477–1493 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-020-00678-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-020-00678-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation