IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/57553.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Standards of living and health status: the socioeconomic determinants of life expectancy gain in sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Keita, Moussa

Abstract

Using a panel dataset on 45 sub-Saharan Africa countries (SSA), this study analyzes empirically the socioeconomic determinants of life expectancy gain (considered as an indicator of global health improvement at country level). In order to treat heterogeneity and endogeneity concerns, we use multiple estimation methods including pooling, fixed-effect, long difference and system GMM. Our analyses show that income is critical for health enhancement. Particularly, we find that GDP per capita is strongly and positively correlated with life expectancy gain. Furthermore, variables such as adult literacy, access to improved sanitation and safe water appear positively correlated health gain. In contrast the high incidence of extreme poverty is negatively correlated with heath gain while the impact of income inequality seems ambiguous.

Suggested Citation

  • Keita, Moussa, 2013. "Standards of living and health status: the socioeconomic determinants of life expectancy gain in sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 57553, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:57553
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/57553/1/MPRA_paper_57553.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 1997. "What Can New Survey Data Tell Us about Recent Changes in Distribution and Poverty?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(2), pages 357-382, May.
    2. Angus Deaton, 2006. "Global Patterns of Income and Health: Facts, Interpretations, and Policies," NBER Working Papers 12735, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Angus S. Deaton & Christina Paxson, 2001. "Mortality, Education, Income, and Inequality among American Cohorts," NBER Chapters, in: Themes in the Economics of Aging, pages 129-170, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Easterly, William & Kremer, Michael & Pritchett, Lant & Summers, Lawrence H., 1993. "Good policy or good luck?: Country growth performance and temporary shocks," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 459-483, December.
    5. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    6. Richard Blundell & Stephen Bond, 2000. "GMM Estimation with persistent panel data: an application to production functions," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 321-340.
    7. Stephen R. Bond, 2002. "Dynamic panel data models: a guide to micro data methods and practice," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 1(2), pages 141-162, August.
    8. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    9. Perron, Pierre, 1989. "The Great Crash, the Oil Price Shock, and the Unit Root Hypothesis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(6), pages 1361-1401, November.
    10. Hitiris, Theo & Posnett, John, 1992. "The determinants and effects of health expenditure in developed countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 173-181, August.
    11. Mahfuz Kabir, 2008. "Determinants of life expectancy in developing countries," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 41(2), January-M.
    12. Farasat A. S. Bokhari & Yunwei Gai & Pablo Gottret, 2007. "Government health expenditures and health outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 257-273, March.
    13. Fred Pampel & Vijayan Pillai, 1986. "Patterns and determinants of infant mortality in developed nations, 1950–1975," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 23(4), pages 525-542, November.
    14. Stephen Bond, 2002. "Dynamic panel data models: a guide to microdata methods and practice," CeMMAP working papers CWP09/02, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    15. Lant Pritchett & Lawrence H. Summers, 1996. "Wealthier is Healthier," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(4), pages 841-868.
    16. Michael Grossman, 1972. "The Demand for Health: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gros72-1, June.
    17. Sudhir Anand & Martin Ravallion, 1993. "Human Development in Poor Countries: On the Role of Private Incomes and Public Services," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 133-150, Winter.
    18. M. Anne Hill & Elizabeth King, 1995. "Women's education and economic well-being," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 21-46.
    19. Smith, Lisa C. & Haddad, Lawrence James, 1999. "Explaining child malnutrition in developing countries," FCND discussion papers 60, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton_paxson_mortality_cohorts is not listed on IDEAS
    21. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton_wider_final_annual_lecture_all is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    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. Rasha M. S. Istaiteyeh, 2017. "Economic and Social Factors in Shaping Jordan’s Life Expectancy: Empirical Analysis (1990-2014)," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 7(5), pages 1-4.
    2. Rabia Liaqat & Maimoona Waseem & Hafiz Muhammad Abubakar Siddique & Muhammad Tariq Majeed, 2021. "Health Outcomes Of Poverty: Evidence From Around The Globe," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 10(3), pages 43-55.
    3. Behiye Cavusoglu & Obadiah Jonathan Gimba, 2021. "Life Expectancy in Sub-Sahara Africa: An Examination of Long-Run and Short-Run Effects," Asian Development Policy Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(1), pages 57-68, March.

    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. Yusuke Kamiya, 2010. "Determinants of Health in Developing Countries:Cross-Country Evidence," OSIPP Discussion Paper 10E009, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    2. Gebregziabher, Fiseha & Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel, 2014. "Social spending and aggregate welfare in developing and transition economies," WIDER Working Paper Series 082, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. KAMIYA, Yusuke, 2011. "Effects of Health Systems and Socioeconomic Factors in Reducing Child Mortality in Developing Countries: Empirical Results from System Generalised Method of Moments," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 11(2).
    4. Fiseha Gebregziabher & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 2014. "Social Spending and Aggregate Welfare in Developing and Transition Economies," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-082, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Meschi, Elena & Taymaz, Erol & Vivarelli, Marco, 2011. "Trade, technology and skills: Evidence from Turkish microdata," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 60-70.
    6. Davide Consoli & Francesco Vona & Francesco Rentocchini, 2016. "That was then, this is now: skills and routinization in the 2000s," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(5), pages 847-866.
    7. Antonio Ruiz Porras, 2016. "La investigación econométrica mediante paneles de datos:historia, modelos y usos en México," Archivos Revista Economía y Política., Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, Universidad de Cuenca., vol. 24, pages 11-32, Julio.
    8. Gravier-Rymaszewska, Joanna & Tyrowicz, Joanna & Kochanowicz, Jacek, 2010. "Intra-provincial inequalities and economic growth in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 237-258, September.
    9. Juan Federico & Joan-Lluis Capelleras, 2015. "The heterogeneous dynamics between growth and profits: the case of young firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 231-253, February.
    10. Mishra, Prachi & Newhouse, David, 2009. "Does health aid matter?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 855-872, July.
    11. Tsun Se Cheong & Yanrui Wu, 2013. "Globalization and Regional Inequality," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 13-10, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    12. Trax, Michaela & Brunow, Stephan & Suedekum, Jens, 2015. "Cultural diversity and plant-level productivity," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 85-96.
    13. Yilmaz Kiliçaslan & Ünal Töngür, 2017. "Information and Communication Technologies and Employment Generation in Turkish Manufacturing Industry," Working Papers 1120, Economic Research Forum, revised 07 2017.
    14. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2ajduu0gqt9ho8h2tavbin6ops is not listed on IDEAS
    15. David Locke Newhouse & Ms. Prachi Mishra, 2007. "Health Aid and Infant Mortality," IMF Working Papers 2007/100, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Vitor Castro, 2017. "Pure, White and Deadly… Expensive: A Bitter Sweetness in Health Care Expenditure," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 1644-1666, December.
    17. Ilina Srour & Erol Taymaz & Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Globalization, Technology and Skills: Evidence from Turkish Longitudinal Microdata," ERC Working Papers 1405, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Jun 2014.
    18. Borsato, Andrea & Lorentz, André, 2023. "The Kaldor–Verdoorn law at the age of robots and AI," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(10).
    19. Derek Jones & Panu Kalmi & Mikko Mäkinen, 2010. "The productivity effects of stock option schemes: evidence from Finnish panel data," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 67-80, February.
    20. Walther, Herbert & Stiassny, Alfred, 2013. "International Comparisons of Household Saving Rates and Hidden Income," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 148, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    21. Lachenmaier, Stefan & Rottmann, Horst, 2011. "Effects of innovation on employment: A dynamic panel analysis," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 210-220, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Standards of living; health; life expectancy at birth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Hypothesis Testing: General
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:57553. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.