Why Do Some Countries Spend More for Health? An Assessment of Sociopolitical Determinants and International Aid for Government Health Expenditures

A consensus exists that rising income levels and technological development are among the key drivers of total health spending. However, determinants of public sector health expenditure are less well understood. This study examines a complex relatio...

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Main Authors: Liang, Li-Lin, Mirelman, Andrew J.
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/01/19543916/some-countries-spend-more-health-assessment-sociopolitical-determinants-international-aid-government-health-expenditures
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19035
id okr-10986-19035
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-190352021-04-23T14:03:50Z Why Do Some Countries Spend More for Health? An Assessment of Sociopolitical Determinants and International Aid for Government Health Expenditures Liang, Li-Lin Mirelman, Andrew J. ACCOUNTABILITY AGGREGATE HEALTH EXPENDITURE AGGREGATE INCOME ANTICORRUPTION ANTICORRUPTION REFORMS BRIBES CABINET COALITION GOVERNMENT CORRUPT CORRUPTION CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT DEBT DELIVERY SYSTEM DEMOCRACIES DEMOCRACY DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY DEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURE ECONOMIC REVIEW ELECTION EXTERNAL DEBT FINANCIAL RESOURCES FISCAL POLICY FRAUD HEALTH AFFAIRS HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE COSTS HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURE HEALTH CARE FINANCE HEALTH CARE REFORM HEALTH CARE SPENDING HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS HEALTH COVERAGE HEALTH ECONOMICS HEALTH EXPENDITURE HEALTH EXPENDITURE GROWTH HEALTH EXPENDITURES HEALTH FINANCING HEALTH INSURANCE HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE HEALTH ORGANIZATION HEALTH OUTCOMES HEALTH POLICY HEALTH PROGRAMS HEALTH RESOURCES HEALTH SECTOR HEALTH SERVICES HEALTH SPENDING HEALTH SYSTEMS HOSPITAL SYSTEMS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN RESOURCES INCENTIVE STRUCTURES INCOME COUNTRIES INCOME ELASTICITY INCOME ELASTICITY OF HEALTH CARE INCOME GROUPS INFORMAL SECTOR INSURANCE PREMIUMS INTERNATIONAL HEALTH CARE INVESTIGATION KICKBACKS LEADERSHIP LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES MEDICAL RESOURCES MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY MONITORING MECHANISMS NATIONAL HEALTH NEPOTISM NUTRITION OLDER PEOPLE PATRONAGE POCKET PAYMENT POLITICAL INTERESTS POLITICAL OPPONENTS POLITICAL PARTY POLITICAL SYSTEM POLITICAL SYSTEMS POLITICIANS PRIVATE HEALTH SERVICES PRIVATE SECTOR PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH CARE PUBLIC HEALTH SPENDING PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SECTOR PUBLIC SPENDING SOCIAL HEALTH INSURANCE SOCIAL WELFARE TRANSPARENCY TUBERCULOSIS A consensus exists that rising income levels and technological development are among the key drivers of total health spending. However, determinants of public sector health expenditure are less well understood. This study examines a complex relationship across government health expenditure (GHE), sociopolitical risks, and international aid, while taking into account the impact of national income and fiscal capacity on health spending. The author apply a two-way fixed effects and two-stage least squares regression method to a panel dataset comprising 120 countries for the years 1995 through 2010. Our results show that democratic accountability has a diminishing positive correlation with GHE, and that levels of spending are higher when the government is more stable. Corruption is associated with less spending in developing countries, but with more spending in high-income countries. Furthermore, the author find that development assistance for health (DAH) substitutes for domestically financed government health expenditure (DGHE). For an average country, a 1 percent increase in total DAH or DAH to government is associated with a 0.02 percent decrease in DGHE. Our work highlights that policy reforms that aim to eliminate corruption are fundamental to improving the capacity of developing countries to scale up GHE, and to increasing the efficiency of health care systems in developed countries in containing health care costs. To minimize fungibility, donors may impose stronger monitoring mechanisms for corruption. Delivering aid through NGOs may be an option in countries with high ethnic tensions; however, the ability to do so depends on institutional arrangements and the capacity of NGOs in individual countries. 2014-07-28T22:18:21Z 2014-07-28T22:18:21Z 2014-01 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/01/19543916/some-countries-spend-more-health-assessment-sociopolitical-determinants-international-aid-government-health-expenditures http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19035 English en_US Health, Nutrition, and Population (HNP) discussion paper; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic ACCOUNTABILITY
AGGREGATE HEALTH EXPENDITURE
AGGREGATE INCOME
ANTICORRUPTION
ANTICORRUPTION REFORMS
BRIBES
CABINET
COALITION GOVERNMENT
CORRUPT
CORRUPTION
CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT
DEBT
DELIVERY SYSTEM
DEMOCRACIES
DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY
DEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS
DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURE
ECONOMIC REVIEW
ELECTION
EXTERNAL DEBT
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
FISCAL POLICY
FRAUD
HEALTH AFFAIRS
HEALTH CARE
HEALTH CARE COSTS
HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURE
HEALTH CARE FINANCE
HEALTH CARE REFORM
HEALTH CARE SPENDING
HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS
HEALTH COVERAGE
HEALTH ECONOMICS
HEALTH EXPENDITURE
HEALTH EXPENDITURE GROWTH
HEALTH EXPENDITURES
HEALTH FINANCING
HEALTH INSURANCE
HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE
HEALTH ORGANIZATION
HEALTH OUTCOMES
HEALTH POLICY
HEALTH PROGRAMS
HEALTH RESOURCES
HEALTH SECTOR
HEALTH SERVICES
HEALTH SPENDING
HEALTH SYSTEMS
HOSPITAL SYSTEMS
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
HUMAN RESOURCES
INCENTIVE STRUCTURES
INCOME COUNTRIES
INCOME ELASTICITY
INCOME ELASTICITY OF HEALTH CARE
INCOME GROUPS
INFORMAL SECTOR
INSURANCE PREMIUMS
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH CARE
INVESTIGATION
KICKBACKS
LEADERSHIP
LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES
MEDICAL RESOURCES
MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
MONITORING MECHANISMS
NATIONAL HEALTH
NEPOTISM
NUTRITION
OLDER PEOPLE
PATRONAGE
POCKET PAYMENT
POLITICAL INTERESTS
POLITICAL OPPONENTS
POLITICAL PARTY
POLITICAL SYSTEM
POLITICAL SYSTEMS
POLITICIANS
PRIVATE HEALTH SERVICES
PRIVATE SECTOR
PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE
PUBLIC HEALTH
PUBLIC HEALTH CARE
PUBLIC HEALTH SPENDING
PUBLIC POLICY
PUBLIC SECTOR
PUBLIC SPENDING
SOCIAL HEALTH INSURANCE
SOCIAL WELFARE
TRANSPARENCY
TUBERCULOSIS
spellingShingle ACCOUNTABILITY
AGGREGATE HEALTH EXPENDITURE
AGGREGATE INCOME
ANTICORRUPTION
ANTICORRUPTION REFORMS
BRIBES
CABINET
COALITION GOVERNMENT
CORRUPT
CORRUPTION
CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT
DEBT
DELIVERY SYSTEM
DEMOCRACIES
DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY
DEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS
DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURE
ECONOMIC REVIEW
ELECTION
EXTERNAL DEBT
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
FISCAL POLICY
FRAUD
HEALTH AFFAIRS
HEALTH CARE
HEALTH CARE COSTS
HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURE
HEALTH CARE FINANCE
HEALTH CARE REFORM
HEALTH CARE SPENDING
HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS
HEALTH COVERAGE
HEALTH ECONOMICS
HEALTH EXPENDITURE
HEALTH EXPENDITURE GROWTH
HEALTH EXPENDITURES
HEALTH FINANCING
HEALTH INSURANCE
HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE
HEALTH ORGANIZATION
HEALTH OUTCOMES
HEALTH POLICY
HEALTH PROGRAMS
HEALTH RESOURCES
HEALTH SECTOR
HEALTH SERVICES
HEALTH SPENDING
HEALTH SYSTEMS
HOSPITAL SYSTEMS
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
HUMAN RESOURCES
INCENTIVE STRUCTURES
INCOME COUNTRIES
INCOME ELASTICITY
INCOME ELASTICITY OF HEALTH CARE
INCOME GROUPS
INFORMAL SECTOR
INSURANCE PREMIUMS
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH CARE
INVESTIGATION
KICKBACKS
LEADERSHIP
LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES
MEDICAL RESOURCES
MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
MONITORING MECHANISMS
NATIONAL HEALTH
NEPOTISM
NUTRITION
OLDER PEOPLE
PATRONAGE
POCKET PAYMENT
POLITICAL INTERESTS
POLITICAL OPPONENTS
POLITICAL PARTY
POLITICAL SYSTEM
POLITICAL SYSTEMS
POLITICIANS
PRIVATE HEALTH SERVICES
PRIVATE SECTOR
PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE
PUBLIC HEALTH
PUBLIC HEALTH CARE
PUBLIC HEALTH SPENDING
PUBLIC POLICY
PUBLIC SECTOR
PUBLIC SPENDING
SOCIAL HEALTH INSURANCE
SOCIAL WELFARE
TRANSPARENCY
TUBERCULOSIS
Liang, Li-Lin
Mirelman, Andrew J.
Why Do Some Countries Spend More for Health? An Assessment of Sociopolitical Determinants and International Aid for Government Health Expenditures
relation Health, Nutrition, and Population (HNP) discussion paper;
description A consensus exists that rising income levels and technological development are among the key drivers of total health spending. However, determinants of public sector health expenditure are less well understood. This study examines a complex relationship across government health expenditure (GHE), sociopolitical risks, and international aid, while taking into account the impact of national income and fiscal capacity on health spending. The author apply a two-way fixed effects and two-stage least squares regression method to a panel dataset comprising 120 countries for the years 1995 through 2010. Our results show that democratic accountability has a diminishing positive correlation with GHE, and that levels of spending are higher when the government is more stable. Corruption is associated with less spending in developing countries, but with more spending in high-income countries. Furthermore, the author find that development assistance for health (DAH) substitutes for domestically financed government health expenditure (DGHE). For an average country, a 1 percent increase in total DAH or DAH to government is associated with a 0.02 percent decrease in DGHE. Our work highlights that policy reforms that aim to eliminate corruption are fundamental to improving the capacity of developing countries to scale up GHE, and to increasing the efficiency of health care systems in developed countries in containing health care costs. To minimize fungibility, donors may impose stronger monitoring mechanisms for corruption. Delivering aid through NGOs may be an option in countries with high ethnic tensions; however, the ability to do so depends on institutional arrangements and the capacity of NGOs in individual countries.
format Publications & Research :: Working Paper
author Liang, Li-Lin
Mirelman, Andrew J.
author_facet Liang, Li-Lin
Mirelman, Andrew J.
author_sort Liang, Li-Lin
title Why Do Some Countries Spend More for Health? An Assessment of Sociopolitical Determinants and International Aid for Government Health Expenditures
title_short Why Do Some Countries Spend More for Health? An Assessment of Sociopolitical Determinants and International Aid for Government Health Expenditures
title_full Why Do Some Countries Spend More for Health? An Assessment of Sociopolitical Determinants and International Aid for Government Health Expenditures
title_fullStr Why Do Some Countries Spend More for Health? An Assessment of Sociopolitical Determinants and International Aid for Government Health Expenditures
title_full_unstemmed Why Do Some Countries Spend More for Health? An Assessment of Sociopolitical Determinants and International Aid for Government Health Expenditures
title_sort why do some countries spend more for health? an assessment of sociopolitical determinants and international aid for government health expenditures
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2014
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/01/19543916/some-countries-spend-more-health-assessment-sociopolitical-determinants-international-aid-government-health-expenditures
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19035
_version_ 1764443188253163520