TY - JOUR PY - 2014// TI - The influence of (public) health expenditure on longevity JO - International journal of public health A1 - Aísa, Rosa A1 - Clemente, Jesús A1 - Pueyo, Fernando SP - 867 EP - 875 VL - 59 IS - 5 N2 - OBJECTIVES: We report new evidence on the contribution of health expenditure to increasing life expectancy in OECD countries, differentiating the effects of public and private health expenditures.

METHODS: A theoretical model is presented and estimated though a cross-country fixed effects multiple regression analysis for a sample of OECD countries over the period 1980-2000.

RESULTS: Although the effect of aggregate health expenditure is not conclusive, public health expenditure plays a significant role in enhancing longevity. However, its influence diminishes as the size of the public health sector on GDP expands, reaching a maximum around the 8 %.

CONCLUSIONS: With the influence of public health expenditure being positive, the ambiguous effect of the aggregate expenditure suggests that the weight of public and private health sectors matters, the second having a lower impact on longevity. This might explain the poor evolution of the life expectancy in countries with a high amount of private resources devoted to health. In such cases, an extension of public services could give rise to a better outcome from the overall health investment.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1661-8556 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00038-014-0574-6 ID - ref1 ER -