This dissertation offers a collection of essays based on empirical research that seeks to find evidence of the contribution of population health, life expectancy in particular, on economic wellbeing from macro and micro data. Using cross-country macro data the dissertation revisits the `Preston-Curve' (Preston, 1975) analysis and shows that economic growth may not be the major contributor to the decreased mortality and increased life expectancy during the twentieth century. The dissertation then investigates the pessimistic findings of Acemoglu and Johnson (2007), which assert that the impact of the increase in life expectancy on per capita income is insignificant or negative. It presents alternative estimates on the impact of life expectancy on population, GDP, and GDP per capita by using alternative instruments, timelines, and country groups. While the pattern of impact varies across country groups and instruments used, the reported coefficients suggest the positive impact of life expectancy on GDP per capita in a large number of specifications. This is particularly evident for the lower income countries. The findings from the crosscountry macro data are corroborated from the evidence obtained from the within country geographic or regional level analysis using the micro level survey data from Bangladesh, India, and four African countries: Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. Methodologically this dissertation offers a unique approach by using the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) combined with the Geographic Positioning Dataset (GPS) obtained from DHS Measures. While the general finding suggests positive wealth effects generated by rising life expectancy, the health and wealth relationship differs across countries. Thepolitical economy consequences of this finding bear critical implications for health investments. The finding of this dissertation supports the notion of investing in health to promote economic wellbeing. The adage `health is wealth' is not merely an intuitive proposition, but quantitatively justifiable
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:530775 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Husain, Muhammad Jami |
| Publisher | Keele University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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