Despite remarkable improvements in health over the past 50 years, there still remain a great number of health challenges around the world. This study examined the relationship between life expectancy rate (as a proxy for health status) with health expenditure, gross domestic product, education index, improved water coverage, and improved sanitation facilities in 108 selected developing countries using annual panel data within the period of 2006-2010. The empirical results from using the panel data approach showed a positive relationship between life expectancy rate and all of those explanatory variables. The relationship between life expectancy with education index and gross domestic product were significant at 1% and 5% significance levels, respectively. Furthermore, the causality finding showed that there is no short-run causality between life expectancy and its determinants. There is a unidirectional causality running from the independent variables of health expenditure, education index, improved water, and improved sanitation to life expectancy at birth. On the other hand, bidirectional causality exists between life expectancy and income in the long-run by employing VECM test. These independent variables can be considered as important determinants for investment in health status in the long-run. This study could be used as a guideline and may be significant for future researchers and policy makers who aim to improve the life expectancy in developing countries.

Abstract

The present study attempts to examine the impact of smartphone-based healthcare technology (SHT) adoption in public healthcare services. System dynamics is used to understand the substantial impact of SHT adoption among patients and doctors would improve the discharge rate and patient's medical costs. The results show that the changes in the proportion of SHT adoption among patients seem to be significant to the perceived medical expenses and the patient discharge rate from public hospitals. This is due to the fact that the increase in the proportion of patient using SHT would reduce the proportion of basic medical expenses incurred by patients and increase inpatient discharge rate as well. On the other hand, the proportion of both medical doctors and patients adoption of SHT for medical consultation is found to be vital to improve the number of patients being discharged from hospital wards. This impact is implicitly shown from the model through the effectiveness of health consultation using common available social networking apps. In conclusion, the findings of this work are hoped to provide an apprehension to the hospital management's decision makers and doctors that smartphone devices are considered vital to improve healthcare delivery in Malaysian government hospital and to reduce the burden of medical costs. Review of LiteraturesResearch on the interaction between technology devices and healthcare has received a great attention and interest

Life insurance is not merely vital for the economic development of a country but also the health of an individual’s financial circumstances. This study examines the income elasticity of life insurance consumption and the impact of life insurance markets on economic growth in 22 Asian countries from 2001 to 2016. According to a panel data analysis of life insurance demand, it is inelastic in proportion to GDP per capita, implying that the product is a necessity for Asians. Furthermore, the results of a life insurance growth analysis conducted both before and after the 2007/2008 subprime crisis revealed that life insurance markets had a significant impact on economic growth. The findings showed the region’s life insurance industry was hit hard by the crisis and shed more than 10% of its market value relative to the economy. This work provides a valuable reference and recommendations for corporations and government sectors to strengthen these countries’ life insurance markets.

This paper empirically analyzes food price responses to shocks from crude oil price and exchange rate volatility in five emerging Southeast Asian nations between 2000 and 2020 using impulse response functions and variance decomposition analysis of the dynamic panel Vector Autoregression approach. Based on the findings of the impulse response functions analysis, food prices respond positively to both oil price and exchange rate shocks. Meanwhile, the results of variance decomposition analysis show that food prices account for a significant portion of volatility in its own shock. The contribution of oil price shock to food price volatility is found to be greater than the contribution of exchange rate shock. Hence, the study recommends that policymakers in these nations should be vigilant about the impacts of oil price and exchange rate shocks on food prices since these factors may undermine price stability and exacerbate food security.