Governments Expenditure on Health and its Impact on the Wellbeing of the Citizens: An Empirical Evidence of Ghana

Author(s)

Opoku Charles Akwasi , Liu Shizhu ,

Download Full PDF Pages: 01-08 | Views: 894 | Downloads: 231 | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3702210

Volume 9 - February 2020 (02)

Abstract

The study aimed to assess the impact of the government’s expenditure on health on the wellbeing of the citizens in Ghana. However, the study adopted the human development index as the dependent variable to measure the wellbeing of the citizens. The independent variable used in the study is the government’s domestic expenditure on health. The study used secondary data available at World Development Indicators and the United Nations Human Development Index from 2000 to 2018. In order to achieve the study’s objective, some regression analytical methods were used for the analysis; they are ordinary least square (OLS), fully modified least square (FMOLS) and generalized linear model (GLM) as a robust check method. In conclusion, the study found a positive and statistically significant relationship between the government’s expenditure on health and human development; thus, the wellbeing of Ghanaians. In addition, the birth rate of Ghana has a positive relationship with human development, as was revealed in the study. The study recommends that the government should prioritize the health of the citizens in order to ensure healthy populace and workforce to be able to contribute to the economic activities of the country

Keywords

Government expenditure on health; human development index; birth rate; generalized linear model; fully modified ordinary least square; ordinary least square

References

i.        Anyanwu, J. C. and Erhijakpor, A. E. O. (2007) Health Expenditures and Health Outcomes in Africa, Economic Research Working Paper, No 91 (December 2007)

ii.      Bac. C and Le-Pen. Y (2002) “An International Comparison of Healthcare Expenditure Determinants”. 10th International Conference on Panel Data, Berlin

iii.    Blomqvist, A. G and R. A. L. Carter (1997) “Is Health Care Really a Luxury?” Journal of Health Economics 16, 207-229

iv.     F. Castro-Leal, J. Demery, and K. Mehra (2000) Public Spending on HealthCare in Africa: Do the Poor Benefit? Bulletin of the World Health Organisation 78:1.

v.       Gerdtham, U. G (1992) “Pooling International Healthcare Expenditure Data” Health Economics 1, 217-231

vi.     Gerdtham, U G, Sogaard J, Andersson F and Jonsson B (1992)“An Econometric Analysis of Health Care Expenditure. A Cross Section Study of the OECD Countries” Journal of Health Economics 11 (1) 63-84

vii.   Ghana Statistical Service (2012) 2010 Population and Housing Census, Summary of Final Results.

viii. Gupta I and Mitra Arup (2004) Economic Growth, Health and Poverty, An exploratory study for India. Development Policy Review, vol 22, 193 – 206, March

ix.     Gyimah-Brempong, K, and Wilson, M. (2004), Health Human Capital and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan African and OECD Countries, The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 296-320

x.       Hitiris T and Posnett J (1992) “The Determinants and Effects of Health Expenditure in Developed Countries” Journal of Health Economics. 11 (173-181)

xi.     Kawachi, I. and Kennedy, B P (1997) “The relationship of Income Inequalities to Mortality; Does the choice of Indicator matter?' Social Science and Medicine, Oct 45, (7) 1121 - 1127

xii.   Micheal Kofi Boachie, Isaac Osei Mensah, Pauline Sobiesuo, Mustapha Immurana, AbdulAziz Iddrisu, and Ishaq Kyei-Brobbey, “Determinants of Public Health Expenditure in Ghana: A Cointegration Analysis.” Journal of Behavioural Economics, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Accounting and Transport, vol. 2, no. 2 (2014): 35-40. doi: 10.12691/jbe-2-2-1.

xiii. Moore, J A et al (1992)” Measuring the Relationship between Income and national Health Care Expenditure” Health Care financing Review. 14, 133-144

xiv. Muhammed A, and Khan, F. J (2007)”Health Care Services and Government Spending in Pakistan” PIDE Working Paper. 32

xv.   Norman, Gemmell (1985) “The incidence of Government Expenditure and Redistribution in the United Kingdom. Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science 52 (27) 335 – 344.

xvi. Sidiqui R, U. Afridi and R. Haq (1995) “Determinants of Expenditure on Health in Pakistan” The Pakistan Development Review 34 (4) 959-970

xvii.           Toor, I. A., and M. S. Butt (2005) “HealthCare Services and Government Spending in Pakistan” Economic and Social Review 43:1, 133–150.

Cite this Article: