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on Health Economics |
| By: | Maarten Lindeboom (Free University Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute, HEB, Netspar and IZA Bonn); Ana Llena-Nozal (Free University Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute); Bas van der Klaauw (Free University Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute, CEPR and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of parental education on child health outcomes. To identify the causal effect we explore exogenous variation in parental education induced by a schooling reform in 1947, which raised the minimum school leaving age in the UK. Findings based on data from the National Child Development Study suggest that postponing the school leaving age by one year had little effect on the health of their offspring. Schooling did however improve economic opportunities by reducing financial difficulties among households. We conclude from this that the effects of parental income on child health are at most modest. |
| Keywords: | returns to education, intergenerational mobility, health, regression-discontinuity |
| JEL: | I12 I28 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2516&r=hea |
| By: | Jian Wang (Shandong University, China); Zhong Zhao (IZA Bonn, Germany); Amir Mahmood (University of Newcastle, Australia) |
| Abstract: | Using the 1997-1998 New South Wales public-hospitals comparison data, we investigate the hospital-level inefficiency by applying a stochastic-frontier multiproduct cost function. We use a flexible translog cost function to reduce the measurement errors of the outputs of the hospital. The main findings are: First, inefficiency accounts for 9.3% of total hospital costs in large hospitals and 11.3% in small hospitals, when including complexity indicators. Second, diseconomies of scale exist in very large hospitals, whereas scale economies appear in very small hospitals. Third, scope effects are found in both large and small hospitals. Fourth, small hospitals are more labor-intensive than large hospitals are. |
| Keywords: | translog cost function, economies of scale and scope, efficiency, public hospital |
| JEL: | I11 I18 C31 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2520&r=hea |
| By: | Steven Kennedy; James Ted McDonald; Nicholas Biddle |
| Abstract: | The existence of a healthy immigrant effect – where immigrants are on average healthier than the native-born – is now a well accepted phenomenon. There are many competing explanations for this phenomenon including health screening by recipient countries, healthy behaviour prior to migration followed by the steady adoption of new country (less) healthy behaviours, and immigrant self-selection where healthier and wealthier people tend to be migrants. We explore the last two of these explanations for the healthy immigrant effect by examining the health outcomes, health behaviours, and socio-economic characteristics of immigrants from a range of source countries in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. We find evidence of strong positive selection effects for immigrants from all regions of origin in terms of education. However, we also find evidence that self-selection in terms of unobservable factors is an important determinant of the better health of recent immigrants. |
| Keywords: | immigrant health, selection effects, smoking, obesity |
| JEL: | I12 I00 J61 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:164&r=hea |
| By: | Hugh Armstrong; Wallace Clement; Zhiqiu Lin; Steven Prus |
| Abstract: | Comparative health studies consistently find that Canadians on average are healthier than Americans. Comparing health status within and between Canada and the United States provides key insights into the distribution of inequalities in these two countries. Canada’s universal health care insurance system contrasts with the mixed system of the United States: universal care for seniors, private health care insurance for many, and no or intermittent coverage for others. These countries are also notably different in the extent of income and racial/ethnic inequalities. It is within this context that this study compares the relative strength of the relationships between social, economic, and demographic factors (sex, age, marital status, income, education, country of birth, and race/ethnicity) and health status in Canada and the United States. Evidence drawn from the 2002-2003 Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health reveals that the correlations between these factors, above all country of birth and race/ethnicity, and health are relatively stronger in the United States, reflecting differences in health care access and racial/ethnic-based inequalities between the countries. The study findings are suggestive of the effects of universal access to health care and more equitable distribution of other social resources in protecting the health of the general population. |
| Keywords: | self-reported health, United States, Canada, health insurance, income, race, ethnicity, age, sex |
| JEL: | I11 I18 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:167&r=hea |