The socioeconomic determinants of health: economic growth and health in the OECD countries during the last three decades.

ABSTRACT: In times of economic crisis, most countries face the dual challenge of fighting unemployment while restraining social expenditures and closing budget deficits. The spending cuts and lack of employment affect a large number of decisions that have a direct or indirect impact on health. This impact is likely to be unevenly distributed among different groups within the population, and therefore not only health levels may be at risk, but also their distribution. The main purpose of this paper is to explore links between unemployment, economic growth, inequality, and health. We regress a measure of health, the Health Human Development Index (HHDI), against a set of explanatory variables accounting for the countries' economic performance (GDP growth, unemployment, and income inequality), and some

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Casasnovas G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3924476 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature