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International trade of health services: Global trends and local impact

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  • Lautier, Marc

Abstract

Globalization is a key challenge facing health policy-makers. A significant dimension of this is trade in health services. Traditionally, the flow of health services exports went from North to South, with patients travelling in the opposite direction. This situation is changing and a number of papers have discussed the growth of health services exports from Southern countries in its different dimensions. Less attention has been paid to assess the real scope of this trade at the global level and its potential impact at the local level. Given the rapid development of this area, there are little empirical data. This paper therefore first built an estimate of the global size and of the growth trend of international trade in health services since 1997, which is compared with several country-based studies. The second purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the significant economic impact of this trade at the local level for the exporting country. We consider the case of health providers in the South-Mediterranean region for which the demand potential, the economic effects and the consequence for the health system are presented. These issues lead to the overall conclusion that different policy options would be appropriate, in relation to the nature of the demand.

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  • Lautier, Marc, 2014. "International trade of health services: Global trends and local impact," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 105-113.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:118:y:2014:i:1:p:105-113
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.07.004
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    2. Jeroen Klijs & Meghann Ormond & Tomas Mainil & Jack Peerlings & Wim Heijman, 2016. "A state-level analysis of the economic impacts of medical tourism in Malaysia," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 30(1), pages 3-29, May.
    3. Loh, Chung-Ping A. & Triplett, Russell E., 2019. "International accreditation, linguistic proximity and trade in medical services," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Alexandr Nikolaevich Dunets & Veronika Yankovskaya & Alla Borisovna Plisova & Mariya Vladimirovna Mikhailova & Igor Borisovich Vakhrushev & Roman A. Aleshko, 2020. "Health tourism in low mountains: a case study," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 7(3), pages 2213-2227, March.
    5. Kamonwan Kiewnin & Titaree Boontantrapiwat & Jeerapa Sosom & Mintar Hongtumrong & Anon Khunakorncharatphong & Churnrurtai Kanchanachitra & Cha-aim Pachanee, 2021. "International Trade and Health in Thailand: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-12, November.
    6. Monika Boguszewicz-Kreft & Agnieszka Springer & Sylwia Kuczamer-Kłopotowska & Lidia Pac-Pomarnacka, 2021. "The Assessment of the Domestic and Foreign Medical Services and the Intents to Participate in Medical Tourism," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4B), pages 824-837.
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    8. Jiayu Ou & Zhiqiang Zheng & Naili Zhang, 2023. "A Study of the Effect of Trade Openness on Population Health: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-19, August.

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