The effects of Health Indices on Economic Growth in Iran

• Main Authors: MR Lotfalipour, MA Falahi, M Borji
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Iran University of Medical Sciences 2012-01-01
• Series: مدیریت سلامت
• Subjects: Health Indicators; Economic Growth; Iranian Economics; Health Economics
• Online Access: http://jha.iums.ac.ir/article-1-1024-en.html

Introduction: Investment in human capital and enhancement of its quality has an important role in improving economic growth. Improvement of the health condition of labor force leads to an increase in human capital and an enrichment of labor productivity which subsequently improves the economic growth. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of healthy human capital on the growth rate of per capita income in Iran during 1982-2007. Methods: The expanded Solow's growth model, simultaneous equations system and three-Stage Least Squares were used in this study. The data were then analyzed by applying Eviews7.0 software. Results: The results showed that the stock and investment in health human capital influenced the growth rate of per capita income positively and significantly below one and ten percent, respectively. The estimates indicated that a one percent increase in healthy human capital stock and investment result in an increase in the growth rate of per capita income (0.16% and 0.22% increase, respectively). Discussion: The stock of health human capital affects the growth rate of per capita income in a quadratic form, suggesting that ultimate effects of health human capital stock decreases at its high levels and that an increase in the stock of health human capital rises the growth of per capita income at a decreasing rate.