How effective is public health expenditure in improving overall health? A cross–country analysis

Abstract

The primary emphasis of this paper is on seeking some justification for the worldwide phenomenon of increasing government involvement in health–care. The disability–adjusted–health–expectancy (DALE) rankings of countries in the World Health Report, 2000, ranked wealthier countries, with a typically large public sector involvement in health–care, higher on the list. Contrary to the possible implications for this ranking, this paper finds that the comparatively higher DALE in wealthier countries is not a result of greater public health expenditures. In the middle income and less developed countries, however, there is some evidence of effective public involvement in health–care.