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Medical Technology and the Production of Health Care

Author

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  • Baltagi, Badi H.

    (Syracuse University)

  • Moscone, Francesco

    (Brunel University)

  • Tosetti, Elisa

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

This paper investigates the factors that determine differences across OECD countries in health outcomes, using data on life expectancy at age 65, over the period 1960 to 2007. We estimate a production function where life expectancy depends on health and social spending, lifestyle variables, and medical innovation. Our first set of regressions include a set of observed medical technologies by country. Our second set of regressions proxy technology using a spatial process. The paper also tests whether in the long-run countries tend to achieve similar levels of health outcomes. Our results show that health spending has a significant and mild effect on health outcomes, even after controlling for medical innovation. However, its short-run adjustments do not seem to have an impact on health care productivity. Spatial spill overs in life expectancy are significant and point to the existence of interdependence across countries in technology adoption. Furthermore, nations with initial low levels of life expectancy tend to catch up with those with longer-lived populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Baltagi, Badi H. & Moscone, Francesco & Tosetti, Elisa, 2011. "Medical Technology and the Production of Health Care," IZA Discussion Papers 5545, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5545
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    Cited by:

    1. Kuhn, Michael & Frankovic, Ivan & Wrzaczek, Stefan, 2017. "Medical Progress, Demand for Health Care, and Economic Performance," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168249, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Eibich, Peter & Ziebarth, Nicolas, 2014. "Examining the Structure of Spatial Health Effects in Germany Using Hierarchical Bayes Models," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 49, pages 305-320.
    3. Pilar Gracia-de-Rentería & Hugo Ferrer-Pérez & Ana Isabel Sanjuán & George Philippidis, 2023. "Live and let live: understanding the temporal drivers and spillovers of life expectancy in Europe for public planning," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 24(3), pages 335-347, April.
    4. Massimiliano Piacenza & Gilberto Turati, 2014. "Does Fiscal Discipline Towards Subnational Governments Affect Citizens' Well‐Being? Evidence On Health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 199-224, February.
    5. Ivan Frankovic & Michael Kuhn & Stefan Wrzaczek, 2016. "Medical Care within an OLG Economy with Realistic Demography," VID Working Papers 1603, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    6. Kuhn, Michael & Wrzaczek, Stefan & Prskawetz, Alexia & Feichtinger, Gustav, 2015. "Optimal choice of health and retirement in a life-cycle model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 158(PA), pages 186-212.
    7. Joseph Findlay & Caleb Piche-Larocque & Akhter Faroque, 2022. "Cost Estimation and Health Benefits Determinants of Medical Innovations Across Canadian Provinces," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(9), pages 1-25, September.
    8. Kuhn, Michael & Prettner, Klaus, 2016. "Growth and welfare effects of health care in knowledge-based economies," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 100-119.
    9. Kuhn, Michael & Minniti, Antonio & Prettner, Klaus & Venturini, Francesco, 2023. "Medical innovation, life expectancy, and economic growth," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 342, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    10. García-Romero, Antonio & Escribano, Álvaro & Tribó, Josep A., 2017. "The impact of health research on length of stay in Spanish public hospitals," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 591-604.
    11. Akinwande Atanda & Andrea Kutinova Menclova & W. Robert Reed, 2018. "Is health care infected by Baumol's cost disease? Test of a new model," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(5), pages 832-849, May.
    12. Spyros Arvanitis & Euripidis N. Loukis, 2014. "Investigating the effects of ICT on innovation and performance of European hospitals," KOF Working papers 14-366, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    13. Akinwande A. Atanda & Andrea K. Menclova & W. Robert Reed, 2016. "Is Health Care Infected by Baumol’s Cost Disease? Test of a New Model Using an OECD Dataset," Working Papers in Economics 16/04, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    14. Gracia De Renteria, Pilar & Ferrer Perez, Hugo & Philippidis, George & Sanjuan Lopez, Ana Isabel, 2021. "Capturing the drivers of social SDGs: An econometric analysis of the dimensions of health and education," Conference papers 333271, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    15. Moscone, Francesco & Tosetti, Elisa & Costantini, Marco & Ali, Maged, 2013. "The impact of scientific research on health care: Evidence from the OECD countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 325-332.
    16. Michael Kuhn & Alexia Prskawetz & Uwe Sunde, 2014. "Health, education, and retirement over the prolonged life cycle: a selective survey of recent research," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22.
    17. Giuseppe Arbia, 2011. "A Lustrum of SEA: Recent Research Trends Following the Creation of the Spatial Econometrics Association (2007--2011)," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(4), pages 377-395, July.
    18. Cappellari, Lorenzo & De Paoli, Anna & Turati, Gilberto, 2014. "Do Market Incentives in the Hospital Industry Affect Subjective Health Perceptions? Evidence from the Italian PPS-DRG Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 8636, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Yia-Wun Liang & Wen-Yi Chen & Yu-Hui Lin, 2015. "Estimating a Hospital Production Function to Evaluate the Effect of Nurse Staffing on Patient Mortality in Taiwan: The Longitudinal Count Data Approach," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(4), pages 154-169, December.
    20. Frankovic, Ivan & Kuhn, Michael, 2018. "Health insurance, endogenous medical progress, and health expenditure growth," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 01/2018, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.
    21. Lorenzo Cappellari & Anna De Paoli & Gilberto Turati, 2016. "Do market incentives for hospitals affect health and service utilization?: evidence from prospective pay system–diagnosis-related groups tariffs in Italian regions," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 179(4), pages 885-905, October.
    22. Heer, Burkhard & Rohrbacher, Stefan, 2021. "Endogenous longevity and optimal tax progressivity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    23. Reibling, Nadine, 2013. "The international performance of healthcare systems in population health: Capabilities of pooled cross-sectional time series methods," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 122-132.
    24. Proksch, Dorian & Busch-Casler, Julia & Haberstroh, Marcus Max & Pinkwart, Andreas, 2019. "National health innovation systems: Clustering the OECD countries by innovative output in healthcare using a multi indicator approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 169-179.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    health expenditure; health care production; life expectancy; spatial dependence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health

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