Educational and health in the OECDa macroeconomic approach

Resumo

The aim of this paper is to analyze the determinants of health from a macroeconomic perspective, paying particular attention to the role of education attainment in the determination of health. We construct a time-series crosssection data base with economic and non economic variables for 30 OECD countries which covers information form 1960 to 2003. We have estimated several specifications of a health production function adapting Grossman¿s human capital model to a macroeconomic approach. Results show that education has mainly a long-term impact on health; its effect remains in the presence of very relevant inputs in the health production function, such as income and expenditure on health, but fades away when other inputs (habitsand other health resources) are present in the health production function.