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The Aggregate And Local Economic Effects Of Government Financed Health Care

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  • Bill Dupor
  • Rodrigo Guerrero

Abstract

Government‐financed health care expenditures, through Medicare and Medicaid, have grown from roughly 0% to over 7.6% of national personal income over the past 50 years. This paper investigates the stimulative effects of Medicare spending. Using an annual, state‐level panel, we regress state income growth on own‐state spending and spending in other states, instrumented by unanticipated shocks to aggregate Medicare spending, to estimate local and spillover effects. In our benchmark specification, the own‐spending multiplier equals 1.3 and the spillover multiplier equals 0.4. The total Medicare spending multiplier (i.e., local plus spillover) is approximately 1.7. (JEL E32, E62, H51)

Suggested Citation

  • Bill Dupor & Rodrigo Guerrero, 2021. "The Aggregate And Local Economic Effects Of Government Financed Health Care," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(2), pages 662-670, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:59:y:2021:i:2:p:662-670
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12951
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health

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