The Long‐run Relationship Between Trade and Population Health: Evidence from Five Decades

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract. In recent years, the increase in international trade has sparked a debate about the impact of international trade on population health. To date, however, there has been very little econometric research on the relationship between these two variables. This paper examines the long-run relationship between trade openness and population health for a sample of 74 countries over five decades, from 1960 to 2010. Using panel time-series techniques, it is shown that international trade in general has a robust positive long-run effect on health, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality. This effect tends to be greater in countries with lower development levels, higher taxes on income, profits, and capital gains, and less restrictive business and labor market regulations. The results also show that long-run causality runs in both directions, suggesting that increased trade is both a consequence and a cause of increased life expectancy. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may

How Does the Health Sector Benefit from Trade Openness? Evidence from Sub‐Saharan Africa

“…While very limited theoretical models exist on the linkages between international trade, health and health financing, available studies identify several channels through which trade openness may affect population health. These channels include: higher income, better access to goods and services, education, improvement in nutrition, life style change, and so on (Herzer, ). In African countries, trade facilitations are expected to translate into a positive effect on economic growth (Kummer‐Noormamode, ; Sakyi et al , ).…”

“…In African countries, trade facilitations are expected to translate into a positive effect on economic growth (Kummer‐Noormamode, ; Sakyi et al , ). This improvement in economic growth leads to an increase of population income that enables households to invest more in heath expenses (Herzer, ; Welander et al , ). Indeed, an increase in health expenditure is estimated to have a positive effect on population health outcomes (Anyanwu and Erhijakpor, ; Arthur and Oaikhenan, ).…”

“…Some authors have noted that the health improvement benefit from trade is concentrated more on child health in developing countries. They hypothesize that, the improved access to health resources through trade in developing countries mostly include immunizations, pre‐ and post‐natal care, which directly affect child and maternal health (Herzer, ; Owen and Wu, ).…”

“…Also, Deaton () argued that openness to trade enhances the consumption of medical goods and international spillovers of medical knowledge. Other researchers have demonstrated more explicit micro‐level pathways including higher income, better access to goods and services, education, improvement in nutrition, life style change, and so on (Herzer, ).…”

Natural‐resource dependence and life expectancy: A nonlinear relationship

“…Because recent studies have found that international integration improves health outcomes (Alam, Raza, Shahbaz, & Abbas, ; Burns, Jones, Goryakin, & Suhrcke, ; Herzer, ; Majeed, ), we include the sum of trade and FDI as a share of GDP to assess the link between integration and life expectancy. In line with Nagel, Herzer, and Nunnenkamp (), we find that the relationship between global integration and health is inconclusive (Column 3).…”