IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujhec/v19y2018i1d10.1007_s10198-017-0872-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corruption costs lives: evidence from a cross-country study

Author

Listed:
  • Qiang Li

    (Southwest University for Nationalities)

  • Lian An

    (University of North Florida)

  • Jing Xu

    (University of North Florida)

  • Mina Baliamoune-Lutz

    (University of North Florida)

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of corruption on health outcomes by using cross-country panel data covering about 150 countries for the period of 1995 to 2012. We employ ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed-effects and two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation methods, and find that corruption significantly increases mortality rates, and reduces life expectancy and immunization rates. The results are consistent across different regions, gender, and measures of corruption. The findings suggest that reducing corruption can be an effective method to improve health outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Qiang Li & Lian An & Jing Xu & Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2018. "Corruption costs lives: evidence from a cross-country study," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(1), pages 153-165, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:19:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10198-017-0872-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10198-017-0872-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10198-017-0872-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10198-017-0872-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anja Hülsewig, 2009. "Measuring Corruption: A Comparison between the Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index and the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 7(3), pages 42-52, October.
    2. Omar Azfar & Tugrul Gurgur, 2008. "Does corruption affect health outcomes in the Philippines?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 197-244, July.
    3. Maureen Lewis, 2006. "Governance and Corruption in Public Health Care Systems," Working Papers 78, Center for Global Development.
    4. Aliyu, Shehu Usman Rano & Elijah, Akanni Oludele, 2008. "Corruption and Economic Growth in Nigeria: 1986 -2007," MPRA Paper 12504, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Dec 2008.
    5. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Andrew K. Rose, 2005. "Is Trade Good or Bad for the Environment? Sorting Out the Causality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 85-91, February.
    6. 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.
    7. Filmer, Deon & Pritchett, Lant, 1997. "Child mortality and public spending on health : how much does money matter?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1864, The World Bank.
    8. Gary S. Becker, 2007. "Health as human capital: synthesis and extensions -super-1," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 59(3), pages 379-410, July.
    9. Mon-Chi Lio & Ming-Hsuan Lee, 2016. "Corruption costs lives: a cross-country study using an IV approach," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 175-190, April.
    10. Mr. Erwin H Tiongson & Mr. Hamid R Davoodi & Mr. Sanjeev Gupta, 2000. "Corruption and the Provision of Health Care and Education Services," IMF Working Papers 2000/116, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Novignon, Jacob, 2015. "On the efficiency of public health expenditure in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does corruption and quality of public institutions matter?," MPRA Paper 39195, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Rajkumar, Andrew Sunil & Swaroop, Vinaya, 2008. "Public spending and outcomes: Does governance matter?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 96-111, April.
    13. Roni Factor & Minah Kang, 2015. "Corruption and population health outcomes: an analysis of data from 133 countries using structural equation modeling," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(6), pages 633-641, September.
    14. Lambsdorff,Johann Graf, 2007. "The Institutional Economics of Corruption and Reform," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521872751, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan & Hans Philipp Hofmann, 2021. "An Old Plug and a New Virus: Effect of Public Corruption on the Covid-19 Immunization Progress," CESifo Working Paper Series 9307, CESifo.
    2. Giannouchos, Theodoros V. & Ukert, Benjamin & Vozikis, Athanassios & Steletou, Evangelia & Souliotis, Kyriakos, 2021. "Informal out-of-pocket payments experience and individuals’ willingness-to-pay for healthcare services in Greece," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(6), pages 693-700.
    3. Tadadjeu, Sosson & Njangang, Henri & Asongu, Simplice A. & Kamguia, Brice, 2023. "Natural resources, child mortality and governance quality in African countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    4. Maria-Teresa Novo-Molinero & Teresa Morla-Folch & Laureano Jimenez Esteller & Silvia Molina Roldan & Aitor Gomez Gonzalez, 2024. "Impacting life expectancies of incarcerated people through dialogic scientific gatherings and dialogic scientific workshops in prisons," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Andreas P Kyriacou & Oriol Roca-Sagalés, 2024. "Fiscal Decentralization and Health Care Access and Quality: Evidence from Local Governments around the World," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 54(2), pages 313-338.
    6. Vu, Trung V., 2020. "Economic complexity and health outcomes: A global perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    7. Jelnov, Artyom & Jelnov, Pavel, 2022. "Vaccination policy and trust," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    8. Monica Violeta Achim & Viorela Ligia Văidean & Sorin Nicolae Borlea, 2020. "Corruption and health outcomes within an economic and cultural framework," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(2), pages 195-207, March.
    9. Drichoutis, Andreas C. & Grimm, Veronika & Karakostas, Alexandros, 2020. "Bribing to Queue-Jump: An experiment on cultural differences in bribing attitudes among Greeks and Germans," MPRA Paper 102775, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Anand Sharma & Vipin Sharma & Shekhar Tokas, 2022. "Institutional quality and health outcomes: evidence from the EU countries," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 70-78.
    11. Jamie M. Sommer, 2020. "Corruption and Health expenditure: A Cross-National Analysis on Infant and Child Mortality," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 690-717, July.
    12. Li, Qiang & An, Lian & Zhang, Ren, 2023. "Corruption drives brain drain: Cross-country evidence from machine learning," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    13. Qiang Li & Lian An, 2020. "Corruption Takes Away Happiness: Evidence from a Cross-National Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 485-504, February.
    14. Bernadette O'Hare & Steve G. Hall, 2022. "The Impact of Government Revenue on the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Amplification Potential of Good Governance," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 14(2), pages 109-129, June.
    15. Oana-Ramona Socoliuc (Guriță) & Nicoleta Sîrghi & Dănuţ-Vasile Jemna & Mihaela David, 2022. "Corruption and Population Health in the European Union Countries—An Institutionalist Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-20, April.
    16. Krisztina Gero & Daniel Kim, 2020. "Prospective associations between US state-level corruption and individual-level cardiovascular risk factors among middle-aged Americans: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youths 1979," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(9), pages 1737-1748, December.
    17. Văidean, Viorela Ligia & Achim, Monica Violeta, 2022. "When more is less: Do information and communication technologies (ICTs) improve health outcomes? An empirical investigation in a non-linear framework," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Simona Laura Dragos & Codruta Mare & Cristian Mihai Dragos & Gabriela Mihaela Muresan & Alexandra-Anca Purcel, 2022. "Does voluntary health insurance improve health and longevity? Evidence from European OECD countries," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(8), pages 1397-1411, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oana-Ramona Socoliuc (Guriță) & Nicoleta Sîrghi & Dănuţ-Vasile Jemna & Mihaela David, 2022. "Corruption and Population Health in the European Union Countries—An Institutionalist Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Mon-Chi Lio & Ming-Hsuan Lee, 2016. "Corruption costs lives: a cross-country study using an IV approach," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 175-190, April.
    3. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan & Hans Philipp Hofmann, 2021. "An Old Plug and a New Virus: Effect of Public Corruption on the Covid-19 Immunization Progress," CESifo Working Paper Series 9307, CESifo.
    4. Dincer, Oguzhan & Teoman, Ozgur, 2019. "Does corruption kill? Evidence from half a century infant mortality data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 332-339.
    5. Stephen Hall & Bernadette O’Hare, 2023. "A Model to Explain the Impact of Government Revenue on the Quality of Governance and the SDGs," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, March.
    6. Simona Laura Dragos & Codruta Mare & Cristian Mihai Dragos & Gabriela Mihaela Muresan & Alexandra-Anca Purcel, 2022. "Does voluntary health insurance improve health and longevity? Evidence from European OECD countries," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(8), pages 1397-1411, November.
    7. Mohamed Ben Mimoun & Asma Raies, 2022. "Is social spending pro‐poor in developing countries? The role of governance and political freedom," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 214-241, September.
    8. Jamie M. Sommer, 2020. "Corruption and Health expenditure: A Cross-National Analysis on Infant and Child Mortality," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 690-717, July.
    9. Yusuke Kamiya, 2010. "Determinants of Health in Developing Countries:Cross-Country Evidence," OSIPP Discussion Paper 10E009, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    10. Cavalieri, Marina & Guccio, Calogero & Rizzo, Ilde, 2017. "On the role of environmental corruption in healthcare infrastructures: An empirical assessment for Italy using DEA with truncated regression approach," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(5), pages 515-524.
    11. Olorunfemi Yasiru Alimi & Kazeem Bello Ajide, 2021. "The role of institutions in environment–health outcomes Nexus: empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1205-1252, November.
    12. Bate Roger & Mathur Aparna, 2018. "Corruption and Medicine Quality in Latin America: A Pilot Study," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, April.
    13. Elisabetta Reginato & Isabella Fadda & Paola Paglietti & Aldo Pavan, 2021. "Informal Payments and Performance in the Health Care Sector: Possible Relationships in a Sub-National Perspective," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(3), pages 126-126, July.
    14. Sunhee Kim & Jaesun Wang, 2019. "Does Quality of Government Matter in Public Health?: Comparing the Role of Quality and Quantity of Government at the National Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-24, June.
    15. Bienvenido Ortega & Jesús Sanjuán & Antonio Casquero, 2017. "Determinants of efficiency in reducing child mortality in developing countries. The role of inequality and government effectiveness," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 500-516, December.
    16. Friedman, Willa, 2018. "Corruption and averting AIDS deaths," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 13-25.
    17. VĂTAVU Sorana & ȚĂRAN Alexandra-Mădălina & MOLDOVAN Nicoleta-Claudia & LOBONȚ Oana-Ramona, 2022. "Does Technical And Democratic Governance Have The Potential To Enhance Health Spending Allocations?," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 17(3), pages 251-268, December.
    18. Humna Ahsan & Keith Blackburn, 2015. "Human capital and income distribution in a model of corruption," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 208, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    19. Marwa Sahnoun & Chokri Abdennadher, 2020. "Education and Corruption: a Stochastic Frontier Analysis: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(3), pages 968-981, September.
    20. Issa Dianda & Idrissa Ouedraogo, 2021. "The synergistic effect of government health spending and institutional quality on health capital accumulation in WAEMU countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 495-506.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corruption; Lives; Health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:19:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10198-017-0872-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.