Page 124 - GHES-2-4

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability
Fiscal policy shocks and health outcomes

1 0 0 it 10 00 it health expenditure peaked at USD31.2 in 2013, its private
it it counterpart was highest at USD25.3 in 2014. Thereafter,

21 1 0 it z it 010 it z it (V) both maintained a steady decline, reaching USD15.5

1 001 and USD19.9 in 2019, respectively. A steady increase is

31 32 it x it it x it
observed in life expectancy in the Eastern African sub-
Before estimating the model, we conducted a unit root region from 60.9 years in 2000 to 69.1 years in 2019. Public
test on the variables using the Im–Pesaran–Shin (IPS; Im and private per capita health expenditures in the sub-
et al., 2003) and the Levin–Lin–Chu (Levin et al., 2002) region maintained a stable rise from USD73 and USD29
techniques. Both techniques assume cross‐sectional in 2000 to USD199.8 and USD135.2 in 2019, respectively.
independence and that all series are non-stationary Life expectancy exhibited similar patterns in Southern
under the null hypothesis. Further, we conducted a and Western Africa, growing moderately from 50.8 years
regional analysis. In each of the four regions in SSA, in 2000 to 62.4 years in 2019 in the former and from
2
Central, Eastern, Southern, and Western (Appendix A2), 57.4 years to 64 years over the same period for the latter.
we selected five countries with the highest per capita In the Southern sub-region, public per capita health
public health expenditure. The aim was to achieve
relative regional homogeneity and ensure that results are expenditure recorded an unstable growth from USD72.7
appropriate for region-specific policies. All variables were in 2000 and reached its highest value of USD226.2 in
demeaned at the country level to eliminate time-invariant 2018, before declining to USD217.5 in 2019. Private per
fixed effects and then first differentiated to guarantee capita health expenditure rose from USD70.3 in 2000,
stationarity (Pedroni, 2013). peaked at USD164.6 in 2011, and thereafter maintained
a steady decline, reaching USD115.8 in 2019. In Western
3. Results Africa, public per capita health expenditure recorded
its highest value of USD86.5 in 2013. It declined to
3.1. Preliminary analysis
USD63.8 in 2015 and grew moderately afterward,
Table 1 shows the regional summary statistics of the study reaching USD70.6 in 2019. Similarly, private per capita
variables. Average per capita public health expenditure health expenditure was at its peak at USD126.9 in 2008.
in SSA differs markedly across the regions. The Southern Thereafter, it declined and maintained a rather unstable
African region has the largest average per capita public pattern, reaching USD81.9 in 2019.
health expenditure (USD159.8), followed by Eastern
Africa (USD122.5), and the Central African region records Table 1. Summary statistics
the least (USD17.5). A similar distribution is observed for
private per capita health expenditure; its largest averages Region Variable Mean Std. Dev. Min. Max. Obs.
are recorded in the Southern African (USD113.4) and Central Public 17.52 20.52 1.67 89.08 100
Eastern African (USD88.5) regions, while the lowest Africa expenditure
average expenditure is seen in Central Africa (USD19.7). Private 19.66 12.60 2.96 57.86 100
Life expectancy averages 65.2 years in the Eastern and expenditure
60.4 years in the Western regions, while it is 54 years in the Life expectancy 54.53 6.73 44.06 69.02 100
central and Southern regions. Eastern Public 122.51 163.41 2.75 620.39 100
Figure 1 highlights the regional stylized facts in Africa expenditure
public and private per capita health expenditures and life Private 88.52 92.57 5.11 364.83 100
expectancy over the study period. While life expectancy in expenditure
Central Africa maintained a steady and moderate increase Life expectancy 65.23 7.43 50.80 74.51 100
over the period, from 47.8 years in 2000 to 60.5 years in Southern Public 159.84 97.17 12.39 388.23 100
2019, public and private per capita expenditures exhibited Africa expenditure
a rather unstable movement. Both commenced a steady Private 113.38 80.69 8.63 287.24 100
increase from about USD4 in 2000. While public per capita expenditure
Life expectancy 54.07 7.34 42.52 69.59 100
2 Western Africa: Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Western Public 57.77 45.54 4.61 176.53 100
Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire. Central Africa: Angola, Africa expenditure
Rwanda, Congo, Republic of, Central African Republic, Private 81.02 72.83 10.00 342.12 100
and Chad. Eastern Africa: Seychelles, Mauritius, Kenya, expenditure
Sudan, and Tanzania. Southern Africa: South Africa,
Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini, and Lesotho. Life expectancy 60.37 6.65 49.48 72.98 100

Volume 2 Issue 4 (2024) 4 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3454