Health and Growth: Commission on Growth and Development

by Michael Spence (Editor), Maureen A. Lewis (Editor), Daron Acemoglu (Contribution by)

Overview

- Does investing in health raise economic growth? - Can governments achieve rapid growth or high incomes without investing in health? - What are the options and benefits of different analytic approaches to measuring the causal link between health and growth? - Have medical advances influenced life expectancy levels? - Do health investments lead to higher individual productivity? - Why are investments in early childhood development and nutrition important? - How do governments invest in improving health status? - Where should governments invest in health to improve the welfare and health status of the population? - What are the pitfalls in public health care provision and finance? - How can public investments raise health status and household productivity? This book has been prepared for the Commission on Growth and Development to evaluate the state of knowledge on the relationship between health and economic growth. It does not pretend to provide all the answers, but it does review the evidence as well as identify insights and policy levers to help countries pinpoint critical health investments that can enhance and strengthen national growth strategies. It examines a variety of topics including policy imperatives in assessing the benefits of health investments, the methodological challenges in measuring the link between health and economic growth at the macroeconomic level, and the nature of the evidence on the types and timing of interventions that promote health, productivity, and earnings. Written by prominent academics in their fields, 'Health and Growth' seeks to create a better understanding of the role of health investments in growth and to inform policy makers of the benefi ts and pitfalls of alternative scenarios.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821376591
Publisher:	World Bank Publications
Publication date:	05/29/2009
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Workshop Participants xv

About the Editors and Contributors xvii

Acknowledgments xxi

Abbreviations xxiii

1 Health Investments and Economic Growth: Macroeconomic Evidence and Microeconomic Foundations William Jack Maureen Lewis 1

2 Health and Economic Growth: Policy Reports and the Making of Policy Sir George Alleyne 41

3 Population Health and Economic Growth David E. Bloom David Canning 53

4 Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth Daron Acemoglu Simon Johnson 77

5 Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South Hoyt Bleakley 131

6 Early Life Nutrition and Subsequent Education, Health, Wage, and Intergenerational Effects Jere R. Behrman 167

Index 185

Figures

1.1 Health Improvements and the Advent of Barefoot Doctors in China 6

1.2 The Preston Curve, 2001 8

1.3 Normalized Cross-Country Standard Deviations of Health and Income, 1960-2004 9

1.4 Income Growth and Infant Mortality Rate Reductions in China and India, 1960-2000 10

1.5 Cognitive or Schooling Deficits Associated with Moderate Stunting in Children Less Than Three Years Old from Six Longitudinal Studies 19

1.6 Returns to Different Levels of Education Based on Family Background 20

1.7 Returns to Different Levels of Education and Family Background 20

1.8 Absentee Rates among Health Workers in Select Countries, 1989-2003 29

2.1 Tons of Ore Mined per Worker per Day, 1923 43

2.2 Relationship between Output per Worker and Nutritional Status in Denmark 46

2.3 Growth Rate of Income per Capita. 1965-94 46

2.4 Age-Adjusted Death Rate per 100,000 Population from Diabetes in Caribbean and North AmericanCountries, 2000 48

3.1 Income and Life Expectancy, 2005 55

3.2 Population in Sub-Saharan Africa, by Age, 1960-2040 62

3.3 Population in East Asia, by Age, 1950-2060 62

4.1 Log Life Expectancy at Birth for Initially Rich, Middle-Income, and Poor Countries, Base Sample 79

4.2 Log GDP per Capita for Initially Rich, Middle-Income, and Poor Countries, Base Sample 80

4.3 Change in Log Life Expectancy and Change in Predicted Mortality, 1940-80, Base Sample 99