A Simple Framework for Analysing the Impact of Economic Growth on Non-Communicable Diseases
COGENT OA - Economics and Finance (Taylor & Francis), 2015 No. 3, pp-10 Open Access
10 Pages Posted: 14 May 2015 Last revised: 18 Dec 2015
Date Written: May 15, 2015
Abstract
This paper provides a simple but coherent framework to describe and measure the impact of economic growth on mortality due to chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). NCDs, once considered diseases of affuence, are currently a major public health problem and the cause of about two-thirds of global deaths. The burden of NCDs is remarkable in all the world regions and is projected to increase during the next years (even in low- and middle-income countries). This global epidemic is acknowledged as a major threat to health systems and economic growth. The research to date has tended to focus on the economic burden of NCDs on individuals and countries. In this paper, we reverse the perspective by examining the main channels through which economic growth affects NCDs’ epidemiology. Following a production function approach, we develop a basic technique to break up the impact of economic growth on NCDs into three fundamental components: (1) a resource effect; (2) a behaviour effect; and (3) a knowledge effect. We demonstrate that each of these effects can be measured as the product of two elasticities, the output and income elasticity of the three leading factors infuencing the frequency of NCDs in any population: health care, health-related behaviours and lifestyle, and medical knowledge.
Keywords: economic growth, Engel’s functions, health production function, non-communicable diseases, social determinants of health
JEL Classification: I1, I15
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation