Does Health Matter? A Quantitative Analysis of Cross-country
2012/02/14
研討會日期 : 2012-02-14
時間 : 14:30
主講人 : Ms. Yin-Chi Wang
地點 : Conference Room B110
演講者簡介 : Yin-Chi Wang is going to receive her Ph.D. in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis in 2012. Her research field is in growth and development, macroeconomics, family and labor economics, and economic theory. She is applying for the position of the Institute of Economics, AS right now.
演講摘要 : Standard neoclassical growth theory requires implausibly large productivity gaps in order to explain cross-country income differences. This paper illustrates the significant role played by health factors in such accounting, and also argues that a poor health environment makes health investment less rewarding, affects the parents’ attitude toward investment in children, and retards human capital accumulation and output growth. By estimating health capital across countries and calibrating the model to fit the data for the U.S. economy, I then calculate the required TFP gaps to account for the cross-country differences in relative outputs. With the introduction of the health production input, the required TFP gaps shrink substantially. The results also indicate that, while education is important in explaining cross-country income differences, the variations in the health conditions and health investment efficiencies are vital as well, especially for poor nations in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
