Health and economic growth: new evidence from a panel threshold model

Figures & data

Table 1. The macroeconomic return to health: linear GMM estimates.

Dependent variable	Growth rate of income per capita		Growth rate of income per worker
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Log income per capita (−1)	−0.5097***	−0.5981***
	(0.1646)	(0.1924)
Log income per worker (−1)			−0.5807***	−0.6913***
			(0.1873)	(0.1768)
Survival rate	0.04919***		0.06238***
	(0.01356)		(0.01751)
Life expectancy		0.06522***		0.08637***
		(0.01850)		(0.02266)
Secondary schooling	0.4551***	0.5923***	0.4507***	0.5988***
	(0.1381)	(0.1659)	(0.1374)	(0.09965)
Growth of working age population	0.8923***	0.9448***	−0.1015	−0.05101
	(0.08162)	(0.07922)	(0.08151)	(0.08484)
Population growth rate	−0.1967	−0.0008222	−0.1848
	(0.1381)	(0.1573)	(0.1395)
Growth of capital per worker	0.4638***	0.5166***	0.4660***	0.5365***
	(0.04674)	(0.04529)	(0.04678)	(0.04604)
Observations	1075	1075	1075	1075
Countries	136	136	136	136
J-test p-value	0.2654	0.3806	0.7128	0.9086

Note: *** indicates statistical significance at the 1%, respectively. Standard errors are in parentheses.

Table 2. The macroeconomic return to health: IV panel threshold estimates.

Threshold variable	Dependent variable: growth rate of GDP per capita
	SURV0		LEX0		GDP0
Sup W	46.4394***		71.2090***		33.657***
	(0.000)		(0.000)		(0.000)
Estimated threshold ($\widehat{\gamma }$)	87.82		58.36		2152.16
	$q_i\le \widehat{\gamma }$	$q_i>\widehat{\gamma }$	$q_i\le \widehat{\gamma }$	$q_i>\widehat{\gamma }$	$q_i\le \widehat{\gamma }$	$q_i>\widehat{\gamma }$
GDPCAPITA (−1)	–	–	–	–	0.0122***	−0.0007***
					(0.0048)	(0.0002)
LOG_GDP per capita (−1)	−0.4412	−0.4835***	0.0353	−0.2370***	–	–
	(0.4912)	(0.1737)	(0.2045)	(0.0925)
Survival rate	0.0087	0.0508***	–	–	0.0990	−0.1025**
	(0.0403)	(0.0151)			(0.0665)	(0.0358)
Life expectancy			−0.0008	0.0408***	–	–
			(0.0322)	(0.0132)
Secondary schooling	0.9520**	0.3513***	0.1765	0.1984**	2.7262***	6.1859***
	(0.4274)	(0.1275)	(0.3329)	(0.0956)	(0.8517)	(1.8373)
Growth of physical capital	0.9068***	0.9643***	0.5689	0.5269***	0.6629*	1.1025***
	(0.1414)	(0.0875)	(0.0736)	(0.0489)	(0.3935)	(0.2566)
Population growth	0.6086	−0.3369***	0.0305	0.0220	1.6913***	3.5181***
	(0.4462)	(0.1173)	(0.1721)	0.0862	(0.4778)	(1.1828)
Growth of working population	0.6941***	0.4959***	−0.0553	−0.2781***	0.4172***	0.5445***
	0.0911	(0.0481)	(0.4985)	0.1131	(0.1171)	(0.0953)
Observations	245	830	205	870	168	907

Note: Asterisk *, **, *** indicate statistical significance at the 10, 5, and 1%, respectively. Standard errors are in parentheses.

Table 3. The macroeconomic return to health: IV panel threshold estimates.

Threshold variable	Dependent variable: growth rate of GDP per worker
	SURV0		LEX0
Sup W	48.1945***		71.2090***
	(0.000)		(0.000)
Estimated threshold ($\widehat{\gamma }$)	87.82		58.36
	$q_i\le \widehat{\gamma }$	$q_i>\widehat{\gamma }$	$q_i\le \widehat{\gamma }$	$q_i>\widehat{\gamma }$
LOG GDP per worker (−1)	−0.4771	−0.5494***	0.0353	−0.2370***
	(0.5360)	(0.1985)	(0.2045)	(0.0132)
Survival rate	0.0175	0.0633***	–	–
	(0.0500)	(0.0195)
Life expectancy	–	–	−0.0008	0.0408***
			(0.0322)	(0.0132)
Secondary schooling	0.9494**	0.3416***	0.1765	0.1984**
	(0.4276)	(0.1253)	(0.3329)	(0.0956)
Growth of physical capital	0.6969***	0.4962***	0.5689***	0.5269***
	(0.0920)	(0.0481)	(0.0736)	(0.0489)
Growth of working population	−0.0811	−0.0267	0.0305	0.0220
	(0.1400)	(0.0867)	(0.1721)	(0.0862)
Population growth	0.6266	0.3324***	−0.0553	−0.2781***
	(0.4525)	(0.1164)	(0.4985)	(0.1131)
Observations	245	830	205	870

Note: Asterisk **, *** indicate statistical significance at the 10, 5, and 1%, respectively. Standard errors are in parentheses.

Table A1. Descriptive statistics.

Variable	Mean	Median	SD	Min	Max
Growth rate of real GDP per capita	1.81	1.98	3.73	−25.2	24.4
Growth rate of real GDP per worker	1.49	1.64	3.68	−25.4	24.2
Survival rate	0.900	0.904	0.0396	0.435	0.973
Life expectancy	65.5	68.5	10.9	12.0	84.3
Growth of physical capital	1.94	1.68	3.14	−15.5	20.8
Population growth	1.77	1.77	1.57	−5.48	17.0
Growth of working population	0.332	0.249	1.21	−5.15	6.15
Secondary schooling	2.25	1.93	1.57	0.000	7.92

Table A2. Correlation matrix.

	Growth rate of real GDP per capita	Survival rate	Life expectancy	Growth of physical capital	Population growth	Growth of working population	Secondary schooling
Growth rate of real GDP per capita	1
Survival rate	0.0343	1
Life expectancy	0.0190	0.9066	1
Growth of physical capital	0.3814	−0.0496	−0.0731	1
Population growth	−0.1525	−0.0506	−0.0756	−0.2118	1
Growth of working population	0.2301	0.0467	0.0456	−0.2685	0.0996	1
Secondary schooling	0.0570	0.3326	0.3570	−0.0789	−0.4449	0.0582	1

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, MC, upon reasonable request.