TITLE:
Determinants of Health Expenditures: Stylized Facts and a New Signal
AUTHORS:
Kei Hosoya
KEYWORDS:
Ageing, Health Expenditures, OECD, Panel Data
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.5 No.13,
December
4,
2014
ABSTRACT: This article further investigates the
determinants of health expenditures by using aggregate data. Specifically, a
panel data analysis of 25 OECD countries reveals that under several model
specifications, the proxy for population ageing has no effect on health costs
in accordance with recent findings. In contrast to this well-known result, an
additional estimation conducted to check robustness revealed that the ageing
variable becomes positive and significant. The significant effect may provide a
new signal for a determinant of health expenditures. This result suggests that
ageing is an important factor that cannot be ignored when considering
variations in health expenditures.