Public Health
Volume 120, Issue 11 , Pages 994-1001 , November 2006

The contribution of health to the economy in the European Union

  • Marc Suhrcke

      Affiliations

    • European Office for Investment for Health and Development, WHO Regional office for Europe, Venice, Italy
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author.
  • ,
  • Martin McKee

      Affiliations

    • London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
  • ,
  • David Stuckler

      Affiliations

    • Yale University, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK School of Public Health, Global Health Division New Haven CT 065208034, USA
  • ,
  • Regina Sauto Arce

      Affiliations

    • Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels
  • ,
  • Svetla Tsolova

      Affiliations

    • Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels
  • ,
  • Jørgen Mortensen

      Affiliations

    • Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels

,Accepted 16 August 2006.

References 

  1. Suhrcke M, McKee M, Sauto Arce R, Tsolova S, Mortensen J. The contribution of health to the economy in the European Union. Brussels: European Commission; 2005.
  2. World Bank. World development report 1993: investing in health. Washington, DC: World Bank; 1993.
  3. Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. Macroeconomics and health: investing in health for economic development. Report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, chaired by Jeffrey Sachs. Geneva: Commission on Macroeconomics and Health; 2001;
  4. Wanless D. Securing good health for the whole population. London: HM Treasury; 2004;
  5. Rice DP. Cost-of-illness studies: fact or fiction?. Lancet. 1994;344:1519–1521
  6. Shiell A, Gerard K, Donaldson C. Cost of illness studies: an aid to decisionmaking?. Health Policy. 1987;8:317–323
  7. Bloom DE, Canning D. The health and wealth of nations. Science. 2000;287:1207–1209
  8. Contoyannis P, Rise N. The impact of health on wages: evidence from British Household Panel survey. Empirical Econom. 2001;26:599–622
  9. Gambin L. Gender differences in the effect of health on wages in Britain, http://www2.eur.nl/bmg/ecuity/public_papers/ECuity3wp20GambinGenderhealthonincome.pdf: Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York, 2004.
  10. Pelkowski JM, Berger MC. The impact of health on employment, wages, and hours worked over the life cycle. Quarterly Rev Econom Finance. 2004;44:102–121
  11. Gustman A, Steinmeier T. A disaggregated, structural analysis of retirement by race, difficulty of work and health. Rev Econom Statist. 1986;68:509–513
  12. Bartel A, Taubman P. Health and labour market success: the role of various diseases. Rev Econom Statist. 1979;61(1):1–8
  13. Chirikos TN, Nestel G. Further evidence on the economic effects of poor health. Rev Econom Statist. 1985;67(1):61–69
  14. Andrén D, Palmer E. The effect of sickness on earnings. Working Papers in Economics No 45, http://www.handels.gu.se:81/epc/archive/00002222/01/gunwpe0045.pdf. Göteborg: Department of Economics, Göteborg University, 2001.
  15. Hansen J. The effect of work absence on wages and wage gaps in Sweden. J Popul Econom. 2000;13(1):45–55
  16. Currie J, Madrian BC. Health, Health insurance and the labour market. In:  Ashenfelter O,  Card D editor. Handbook of labour economics. vol. 3:Amsterdam: Elsevier Science B.V.; 1999;p. 3309–3415
  17. Bartel A, Taubman P. Some economic and demographic consequences of mental illness. J Labor Econom. 1986;4:243–256
  18. Benham L, Benham A. Employment, earnings and psychiatric diagnosis. In:  Fuchs V editors. Economic aspects of health. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1981;p. 203–220
  19. Fukui T, Iwamoto Y. An estimation of earning losses due to health deteriorations. Mimeo, Tokyo University, 2003.
  20. Luft HS. The impact of poor health on earnings. Rev Econom Statist. 1975;57:43–57
  21. Averett S, Korenman S. The economic reality of the beauty myth. J Hum Resour. 1996;31(2):304–330
  22. Brunello G, d’Hombres B. Does obesity hurt your wages more in Dublin than in Madrid? Evidence from ECHP. Discussion Paper Series IZA DP No. 1704. Bonn: Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/Institute for the Study of Labor; 2005;
  23. Cawley J. Body weight and women's labor market outcomes. Working paper no 7481, NBER; 2000.
  24. Finkelstein E, Ruhm C, Kosa K. Economic causes and consequences of obesity Ann Rev Public Health. 2005;26:239–257
  25. Mitra A. Effects of physical attributes on the wages of males and females. Appl Econom Lett. 2001;8:731–735
  26. Pagán JA, Dávilla A. Obesity, occupational attainment, and earnings. Social Sci Quart. 1997;78(3):756–770
  27. Register CA, Williams DR. Wage effects of obesity among young workers. Social Sci Quart. 1990;71(1):130–141
  28. Persico N, Postlewaite A, Silverman D. The effect of adolescent experience on labor market outcomes: the case of height. PIER Working Paper no. 03–036, 2003.
  29. Gannon B, Nolan B. Disability and labour market participation. HRB Working Paper, June (retrieved from http://www2.eur.nl/bmg/ecuity/public_papers/ECuity3wp8Gannon.pdf), 2003.
  30. Lindholm C, Burström B, Diderichsen F. Does chronic illness cause adverse social and economic consequences among Swedes?. Scand J Public Health. 2001;29:63–70
  31. Riphahn RT. Income and employment effects of health shocks—a test case for the German welfare state. IZA Discussion Paper no. 10, June 1998.
  32. Lechner M, Vazquez-Alvarez R. The Effect of disability on labour market outcomes in Germany: evidence from matching. Discussion Paper no. 4223, Centre for Economic Policy Research, 2004.
  33. Van de Mheen H, Stronks K, Schrijvers CTM, Mackenbach JP. The influence of adult ill health on occupational class mobility and mobility out of and into employment in The Netherlands. Social Sci Med. 1999;49:509–518
  34. Sammartino FJ. The effect of health on retirement. Social Security Bull. 1987;50(2):31–47
  35. Sickles RC, Taubman P. An analysis of the health and retirement status of the elderly. NBER Working Paper non 1459. Cambridge, MA: NBER; 1984;
  36. Coile C. Health shocks and couples’ labor supply decisions. CRR Working Paper, no.08, May, 2003.
  37. Bound J, Stinebrickner T, Waidmann T. Health, economic resources and the work decisions of older men http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/cesg2003/stinepaper.pdf, 2003.
  38. Deschryvere M. Health and retirement decisions: an update of the literature. ETLA Discussion Papers no. 932, 2004.
  39. Jiménez-Martín S, Labeaga JM, Martínez Granado M. Health status and retirement decisions for older European couples. October http://www.ceps.lu/iriss/documents/irisswp1.pdf, 1999.
  40. Siddiqui S. The impact of health on retirement behaviour: empirical evidence from West Germany. Econom Health Econom. 1997;6:425–438
  41. Disney R, Emmerson C, Wakefield M. Ill-health and retirement in Britain: a panel data-based analysis. IFS Working Paper no.03/02, 2003.
  42. Ettner SL. The opportunity costs of elder care. J Hum Resour. 1996;31(1):189–205
  43. Stern S. Measuring child work and residence adjustments to parent's long-term care needs. Gerontologist. 1996;36:76–87
  44. Spiess CK, Schneider T. Midlife care-giving and employment: an analysis of adjustments in work hours and informal care for female employees in Europe. In: Mortensen J, Spiess CK, Schneider T, Costa-Font J, Patxot C, editors. Health care and female employment: a potential conflict? Occasional Paper, No. 6, ENEPRI; 2004.
  45. Charles KK. Sickness in the family: health shocks and spousal labor supply. Working Paper no. 2000-011, http://www.fordschool.umich.edu/research/papers/PDFfiles/00-011.pdf: Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, 1999.
  46. Berger MC. Labour supply and spouse's health: the effects of illness, disability and mortality. Social Sci Quat. 1983;64:494–509
  47. Shakotko RA, Edwards LN, Grossman M. An exploration of the dynamic relationship between health and cognitive development in adolescence. NBER Working Paper no. 454. Cambridge, MA: NBER; 1980.
  48. Del Gaudio Weiss A, Fantuzzo JW. Multivariate impact of health and caretaking risk factors on the school adjustment of first graders. J Community Psychol. 2001;29(2):141–160
  49. Berger MC, Leigh JP. Schooling, self-selection, and health. J Hum Resour. 1989;24(3):433–455
  50. Gregg P, Machin S. Child development and success or failure in the youth labour market, Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper no. 397, July 1998.
  51. Smith JP. Healthy bodies and thick wallets: the dual relation between health and economic status. J Econom Perspect. 1999;13(2):145–166
  52. Fogel RW. Economic growth, population theory, and physiology: the bearing of long-term process on the making of economic policy. Amer Econom Rev. 1994;84(3):369–395
  53. Arora S. Health, human productivity, and long-term economic growth. J Econom History. 2001;61(3):699–749
  54. Bloom D, Canning D, Graham B. Longevity and Life cycle savings. Scand J Econom. 2003;105(105):319–338
  55. Kalemli-Ozcan S, Ryder EH, Weil DN. Mortality Decline, human capital investment, and economic growth. J Dev Econom. 2000;62:1–23
  56. Thomas D. Health, nutrition and economic prosperity: a microeconomic perspective. CMH Working Paper no WG1:7: WHO, 2001.
  57. Alsan M, Bloom D, Canning D. The effect of population health on foreign direct investment. NBER Working Papers 10596. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau for Economic Research; 2004.
  58. Bloom D, Canning D, Sevilla J. Health, worker productivity, and economic growth, 2002. http://equilibrium.heinz.cmu.edu/mgaynor/AHEC/bloom%20final%20paper2.pdf
  59. Levine R, Renelt D. A sensitivity analysis of cross-country growth regressions. Amer Econom Rev. 1992;82:942–963
  60. Sala-I-Martin X, Doppelhofer G, Miller RI. Determinants of long-term growth: a bayesian averaging of classical estimates (BACE) approach. Amer Econom Rev. 2004;94(4):813–835
  61. Barro RJ. Determinants of economic growth: a cross-country empirical study. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997.
  62. Bhargava A, Jamison DT, Lau L, Murray C. Modelling the effects of health on economic growth. J Health Econom. 2001;20:423–440
  63. Jamison D, Lau L, Wang J. Health's contribution to economic growth in an environment of partially endogenous technical progress, disease control priorities project. Working Paper 10 www.fic.nih.gov/dcpp. Bethesda, MD: Fogatry International Centre, NIH; 2004.
  64. Knowles S, Owen PD. Education and health in an effective-labour empirical growth model. Econom Rec. 1997;73(223):314–328
  65. Knowles S, Owen P. Health capital in cross-country variation in income per capita in the Mankin–Romer–Weil model. Econom Lett. 1995;48:99–106
  66. Beraldo S, Montolio D, Turati G. Healthy, educated and wealthy: is the welfare state really harmful for growth?. Working Papers in Economics 127. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia; 2005.
  67. Tompa E. The impact of health on productivity: empirical evidence and policy implications, http://www.csls.ca/repsp/2/emiletompa.pdf. Economic Papers, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, 2002.
  68. Urban D, Suhrcke M. The role of cardiovascular disease in economic growth. Mimeo. Venice: WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development; 2005;
  69. Oliveira Martins J, Gonand F, Antolin P, de la Maisonneuve C, Yoo K-Y. The impact of ageing on demand, factor markets and growth. Economics Working Paper no. 420. Paris: OECD; 2005.
  70. Rivera CL. Economic growth and health: direct impact or reverse causation?. Appl Econom Lett. 1999;6:761–764
  71. Rivera CL. Income variation and health expenditure: evidence for OECD countries. Rev Dev Econom. 1999;3(3):258–267
  72. Lindert P. Growing public: social spending and economics growth since the eighteenth century, two volumes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2004;
  73. Atkinson AB. The scope for a European growth initiative: is the welfare state necessarily an obstacle to economic growth?. Eur Econom Rev. 1995;39:723–730
  74. Pritchett, L. The quest continues. Finance and Development, March 18–22, 2006.
  75. Nordhaus W. The health of nations: the contribution of improved health to living standards. In:  Moss M editors. The measurement of economic and social performance. New York: Columbia University Press for National Bureau of Economic Research; 2003;

PII: S0033-3506(06)00253-8

doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2006.08.011

Public Health
Volume 120, Issue 11 , Pages 994-1001 , November 2006