Health Expenditures--A Study of Human Capital Investment

• Main Authors: I-Fan Liu, 劉易凡
• Other Authors: Kaili Yieh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2000
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/27442299506916004229

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 商業教育學系 === 88 === Since 1980s the development of endogenous growth theory has revealed that economic growth is not only determined by exogenous factors such as lands but also by human capital that is endogenous (Lucas,1988;1993). For last several decades, human capital has played an crucial role in Taiwan’s economic growth (Lee,Liu & Wang，1994；莊希豐，1998). Understanding the factors that affect human capital becomes an important issue to project the future economic growth of Taiwan. Human capital investment has its positive impact both on an individual’s productivity and on the accumulation of human capital in a country. According to the theory of human capital (Becker,1964), formal education (or school education), working experience, and health are the most significant types of human capital investments. So far, many studies have been done about formal education and working experience. Nevertheless, not much research has been done about health expenditures from the point of view of human capital investment. Different from previous studies, this study will discuss household health expenditures from the aspect of human capital investment rather than from the aspect of consumption. Data for this study is from the Survey of Family Income and Expenditures. The final sample size is 14,015. The double-log linear regression is used to investigate the factors that determine household health expenditures. In addition, cohort analysis will also be applied to examine health expenditures in different cohorts. The results indicate that gender of the household head, age, age square, education, occupation, marital situation, household size, household size square, region, disposable income and home ownership significantly affect household health expenditures. The findings from the cohort analysis show that age of household head, age square, occupation, household size, the square term of household size, region, disposable income, accidental life insurance, and medical insurance are the significant factors that determine health expenditures in different cohorts. Keywords：Human Capital Investment, Health Expenditures, Endogenous Growth Theory, Survey of Family Income and Expenditures, Cohort Analysis, Cohort Effect