Health care expenditure and environmental pollution: a cross-country comparison across different income groups

This paper investigates the long-run dynamics between health care expenditure and environmental pollution across four global income groups. The analysis uses data from 178 countries, spanning the period 1995–2017. Panel estimations are employed with unobserved heterogeneity, temporal persistence, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science and pollution research international 2020-03, Vol.27 (8), p.8142-8156
Main Authors: Apergis, Nicholas, Bhattacharya, Mita, Hadhri, Walid
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquatic Pollution
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Carbon dioxide
Carbon Dioxide - analysis
Carbon Dioxide - chemistry
Carbon dioxide emissions
Cross-Sectional Studies
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecotoxicology
Emissions
Energy efficiency
Environment
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Health
Environmental Pollution
Environmental science
Expenditures
Health care
Health Expenditures
Health services
Heterogeneity
Income
Policy
Pollution
Pollution effects
Research Article
Waste Water Technology
Water Management
Water Pollution Control
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Summary:This paper investigates the long-run dynamics between health care expenditure and environmental pollution across four global income groups. The analysis uses data from 178 countries, spanning the period 1995–2017. Panel estimations are employed with unobserved heterogeneity, temporal persistence, and cross-sectional dependence using a model with common correlated effects. The findings document that the health care expenditure is a necessity for all sub-groups. We established that a 1% increase in national income increased health expenditure by 7.2% in the full sample, and 9.3%, 8.6%, 6.8% and 2.9% for low, low-middle, upper-middle and high-income groups, respectively, while a 1% increase in CO 2 emissions increased health expenditure by 2.5% in the full sample, and 2.9%, 1.2%, 2.3% and 2.6% across these four income groups. We recommend that coordinated approach is needed in setting policy goals both in energy and health sectors in mitigating the negative effects of pollution. Our findings indicate that low-carbon emissions and energy efficient health care services will significantly reduce future health care expenses.
ISSN:0944-1344
1614-7499
DOI:10.1007/s11356-019-07457-0