Page 142 - GHES-2-4

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Evaluation of long-term care expenditures from

the silver economy perspective

Gülay Ekinci*
Department of Health Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University,
Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract
Silver economics is a field of science that evaluates the long-term care needs that
develop because of aging from the economics perspective within the supply
and demand framework. The expenditures and investments made to meet long-
term care needs constitute the main subject of long-term care expenditures. This
study empirically tested the relationship between long-term care expenditures
and life expectancy. Expenditures on long-term care facilities (LTCFE) were taken
as the dependent variable, and life expectancy at birth (LEAB) and life expectancy
at 65 years and over (LEO65) were taken as independent variables. The analysis
included data from 25 countries with regular LTCFE from 2004 to 2020. The variables
were analyzed using the econometric model established within the framework of
panel data analysis. According to the least squares analysis results, a 1% increase in
LEAB increased LTCFE by 2.1%, while a 1% increase in LEO65 decreased LTCFE by
Academic editor: 0.54%. Moreover, a unidirectional causality relationship was found between LTCFE
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE and LEAB and LEO65. The empirical evidence suggests that life expectancy impacted
*Corresponding author: LTCFE. According to the findings, they emphasize the importance of aligning policy
Gülay Ekinci frameworks with demographic changes to ensure sustainable long-term care
(gulay.ekinci@izu.edu.tr) systems in aging societies.
Citation: Ekinc, G. (2024).
Evaluation of long-term care
expenditures from the silver Keywords: Econometric evaluation; Silver economy; Expenditures on long-term care
economy perspective. Global Health facilities; Life expectancy; Aging population
Econ Sustain, 2(4):3298.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3298
Received: March 28, 2024
Accepted: May 24, 2024 1. Introduction
Published Online: October 23, 2024 The “silver economy” is defined as the economic opportunities arising from increased
public and consumer spending of the aging population and the unique needs of people
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article aged over 50 years (EC, 2015). Silver economies prioritize the quality of life of older
distributed under the terms of the persons from a holistic perspective, addressing issues such as employment of persons
Creative Commons Attribution aged over 50 years, policies, such as lifelong learning for older persons, preventive health
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, services, and creating a sustainable society (EC, 2015). Silver economics is a field of
provided the original work is science that evaluates the long-term care needs that develop because of aging within
properly cited. a supply and demand framework from an economic perspective. The silver economy
Publisher’s Note: AccScience has significant socioeconomic and health impacts. From a socioeconomic perspective,
Publishing remains neutral with the aging population may cause employment difficulties for younger generations as
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional the retirement age increases or the aging population may face employment loss due to
affiliations. retirement, illness, etc. In addition, it may cause difficulties in the financial sustainability

Volume 2 Issue 4 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3298