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Cluster shifts based on healthcare factors: The case of Greece in an OECD background 2009-2014

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  • Athanasios Constantopoulos
  • John Yfantopoulos
  • Panos Xenos
  • Athanassios Vozikis

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to explore the impact of the 2008 economic crisis on expenditure of OECD countries. Moreover, focusing on Greece, the researcher attempts to create homogenous groups of countries based on healthcare resources, in order to investigate possible shifts between groups during the crisis. The main body of the study is based on statistical information extracted from OECD and Eurostat databases. Descriptive statistics are used to present the data. The researcher uses k-means cluster analysis to create homogenous groups of countries. Following the beginning of the crisis in 2008, total health expenditure decreases in most OECD countries. Greece decreases public and out-of-pocket expenditures and manages to stabilize the number of doctors, which was rising before the crisis. Cluster analysis shows that Greece and Spain shift between clusters, leaving the core of the EU and joining low-income countries. The reforms implemented in Greece since 2008 have drastically decreased its expenditure which was in 2014 well below the OECD average. However, more structural reforms can still be implemented. Gradually decreasing the number of doctors while increasing the number of nurses would improve the efficiency of the system. Emphasis should also be placed in increasing managerial and organizational reforms. JEL classification numbers: H51, I18,

Suggested Citation

  • Athanasios Constantopoulos & John Yfantopoulos & Panos Xenos & Athanassios Vozikis, 2019. "Cluster shifts based on healthcare factors: The case of Greece in an OECD background 2009-2014," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 9(6), pages 1-4.
    • Handle: RePEc:spt:admaec:v:9:y:2019:i:6:f:9_6_4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Robert Tibshirani & Guenther Walther & Trevor Hastie, 2001. "Estimating the number of clusters in a data set via the gap statistic," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 63(2), pages 411-423.
    2. John Yfantopoulos, 2008. "Pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement reforms in Greece," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 9(1), pages 87-97, February.
    3. Sugar, Catherine A. & James, Gareth M., 2003. "Finding the Number of Clusters in a Dataset: An Information-Theoretic Approach," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 98, pages 750-763, January.
    4. Gabor J. Szekely & Maria L. Rizzo, 2005. "Hierarchical Clustering via Joint Between-Within Distances: Extending Ward's Minimum Variance Method," Journal of Classification, Springer;The Classification Society, vol. 22(2), pages 151-183, September.
    5. Vassilis Fragoulakis & Elena Athanasiadi & Antonia Mourtzikou & Marilena Stamouli & Athanassios Vozikis, 2014. "The Health Outcomes in Recession: Preliminarily Findings for Greece," International Journal of Reliable and Quality E-Healthcare (IJRQEH), IGI Global, vol. 3(4), pages 55-65, October.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health Expenditure; healthcare resources; k-means clustering; OECD; Greece; Economic crisis.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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