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The Impact of Government Health Expenditure on Health Outcomes in Southern Africa

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  • Shilongo, Henock

Abstract

Does government spending on health lead to better health outcomes in southern African countries? Government spending on health in these 10 countries (Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia) is greater than private sector health spending. A need arises to empirically estimate whether government health spending impacts health outcomes more than private spending. Using the fixed-effects regression method, this paper finds that despite more health expenditure by government, it is private health expenditure, in comparison, that impacts health outcomes the most in southern African countries with mixed health systems. The results further show that after controlling for corruption, government health expenditure has no significant effect on life expenditure at birth but considerably improves mortality rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Shilongo, Henock, 2019. "The Impact of Government Health Expenditure on Health Outcomes in Southern Africa," MPRA Paper 99738, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 20 Apr 2020.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:99738
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gupta, Sanjeev & Verhoeven, Marijn & Tiongson, Erwin R., 2002. "The effectiveness of government spending on education and health care in developing and transition economies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 717-737, November.
    2. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    3. Eric Arthur & Hassan E. Oaikhenan, 2017. "The Effects of Health Expenditure on Health Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 524-536, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    government; health; expenditure; southern African; life expectancy; infant mortality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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