TITLE:
Health and Household Income in Vietnam
AUTHORS:
Cuong Tat Do, Anh Ngoc Thi Ngo
KEYWORDS:
Household Income; Individual Health; Life Expectancy; Illiterate Rate; Vietnam; VHLSS
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.3 No.6,
December
18,
2013
ABSTRACT:
This study provides empirical evidence regarding to the relationship
between household income and individual health, as well as the correlation between health and education at provincial level.
We apply the concept of human health capital theory into models which treat
health as a form of human capital in income process and education progress. We employ
two datasets, one is Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey wave in 2002,
2004 and 2006, and the other is the dataset for provincial level in the year 1999, 2002 and 2004, in order to make two panels. Constructing panels
allow us to exploit “within” variation in health, income and education to
figure out the possible unobservable biased estimates of the
impact of health on income and education on health in a short period of panel
data. Household income is significantly affected by individual health and life
expectancy is considerably influenced by education. These findings could be
seen as evidence for policy makers in health and education policy in the
context of development planning.