LINKAGES BETWEEN INCOME, EDUCATION AND HEALTH: CASE OF RURAL ORISSA

Himanshu Sekhar, Rout (2006): LINKAGES BETWEEN INCOME, EDUCATION AND HEALTH: CASE OF RURAL ORISSA. Published in: The Indian Economic Journal , Vol. Confer, (2006): pp. 72-79.

Abstract

The study examines the effect of income and education of the household on its health expenditure, based on primary data collected from Jajpur district of Orissa. Multi-stage random sampling method is adopted to select households (HHs), i.e., sampling unit. The descriptive statistics shows that per capita income and per capita health expenditure are Rs.9, 820.02 and Rs.870.10 respectively per annum. The mean education is 0.94. In rural Orissa, an average person spends around nine per cent of his/her income on health expenditure from his own pocket. To find out the impact of income and education on health expenditure, a linear regression model is fitted as PHE = 70.001 + 0.62PHI + 0.03EDN with R2 value 0.39 which indicates that, a rupee increase income brings about 62 Paise increase health expenditure of a person and an educated person on an average spends three paise more in a rupee than the uneducated person on health expenditure in rural area. This shows that income has greater positive effect on health expenditure than education. To improve the health status of the people, extreme poverty and hunger should be eradicated which is the first goal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The health planners and administrators should be involved in the planning process of the government to reduce poverty and adopt policies for more equitable distribution of income. They can also recommend to have a specific health tax (an earmarked or so-called hypothecated tax) devoted to health care. Again spending more on health services does not necessarily buy better health. It needs an efficient management and use of resources. The principle of equality for opportunity for access to services on the basis of need and equal risk, irrespective of ability to pay should be followed.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Income, Education and Health, Health Tax
• Subjects: R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R2 - Household Analysis; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health

References

Reference

Abel-Smith, Brian and Leiserson, A. (1978), Poverty, Development and Health Policy, Public Health Papers 69, World Health Organization, Geneva.

Arriaga, E. E. and Davis K. (1969), The Pattern of Mortality Change in Latin America, Demography, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 223-42.

Barrera, A. (1990), The Interactive effects of Mother’s Schooling and unsupplemented breast feeding on Child Health, Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp.81-98. Behrman, Jere (1990), The Action of Human Resources and Poverty on one Another: What we have yet to Learn, Living Standards Measurement Study Working Paper No. 74, The World Bank, Washington D.C.

Cochrane, S. H., O’Hara D.J. and Leslie, J. (1980), The Effect of Education on Health, Staff Working Paper No.405, World Bank Washington D.C.

Devarajan, Shantayanan, Miller, M.J. and Swanson, E.V. (2002), Goals for Development: History, Prospects and Costs, World Bank Poverty research Working Paper 2819.

Doornbos, G. and Kromhout, D. (1990), Educational Level and Mortality in the 32 years follow up study of 18-year-old men in the Netherlands, International Journal of Epidemiology, 19:374-79.

Feldman, J.J., Makuc, D.M, Kleinman, J.C. and Cornoni-Huntley, J. (1989), National Trends in Educational Differentials in Mortality, American Journal of Epidemiology, 129:919-33.

Fogel, R.W. (1997), New findings on secular trends in nutrition and mortality: some implications for population theory, In: M.R. Rosenzweig and O. Stark (eds.), Handbook of population and family economics, vol.1A, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, pp.433-481.

Food and Agriculture Organization (1970), Lives in Peril, Rome, p.25.

George, Alex (1997), Household Health Expenditure in Two States, The Foundation for Research in Community Health, Mumbai / Pune.

Glewwe, Paul (1998), Why does Mother’s Schooling Raise Child Health in Developing Countries? Evidence from Morocco, The Journal Human Resources, Vol.34, No.1, p.125.

Gupta, Indrani and Dasgupta, P. (2002), Demand for Curative Health Care in Rural India: Choosing between Private, Public and No Care, Working Paper No. 82, NCAER, New Delhi.

Guralnik, Jack M., Land, K.C., Fillenbaum, G.G. and Branch, L.G. (1993), Educational Status and Active Life Expectancy among Older Blacks and Whites, New England Journal of Medicine, 329:110-16.

Haines Andy and Cassels, A. (2004), Can the millennium development goals be attained? British Medical Journal, Vol. 329, pp.394 - 397.

Kawachi, Ichiro and Kennedy, B. (1997), Health and Social Cohesion: Why care about income inequality? British Medical Journal, Vol. 314, pp.1037-40.

Knowles, Stephen and Owen, P.D. (1997), Education and Health in an Effective-Labour Empirical Growth Model, The Economic Record, Vol. 73, No. 223, p.326.

Mathiyazhagan, M. K. (2003), Rural Household Characteristics and Health Expenditure in India; An Analysis, Journal of Social and Economic Development, Vol. V, No. 1, p.86. McKeown, T., Brown, R.G. and Record, R.G. (1972), An Interpretation of the Modern Rise in Population in Europe, Population Studies, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp.345-82.

Mishra, Rajiv, Chatterjee, R. and Rao, Sujatha (2003), India Health Report, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

Morris, J. N. (1990), Inequalities in Health; Ten Years and Little Further on, The Lancet, 336:491-93.

Murthy, N., Hirway, I., Panchmukhi, P. and Satia, J. (1990), How well do India’s Social Service Programs serve the Poor? World Bank Policy Research Working Paper WPS491, The World Bank.

Padhi, Shakti and Mishra, Srijit (2000), Premature Mortality, Health Status and Public Health Care Facilities in Orissa: a Study in Accessibility and Utilization, Nabakrishna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, Bhubaneswar.

Ross Catherine E. and Wu, Chia-Ling (1995), The Links between Education and Health, American Sociological Review, Vol.60, pp. 719-745.

Sachs, J.D. and Werner, A.M. (1997), Fundamental sources of long term growth, American Economic Review, Vol.87, pp.184-188.

Schultz, T. Paul (1984), Studying the Impact of Household Economic and Community Variables on Child Mortality, Population and development Review, Vol. 10 (Supp.), pp.215-35.

Sharma, Om Prakash (2000), Rural Health and Medical Care in India, Manak Publication Private Limited, New Delhi.

Strauss, J. and Thomas, D. (1998), Health, Nutrition and Economic Development, Journal of Economic Literature, vol. XXXVI, pp.766-817.

Sundar, Ramamani (1995), Household survey of Health Care Utilization and Expenditure, Working Paper No. 53, NCAER, New Delhi.

Tulasidhar, V. B (1992), State’s Financing of Health Care in India, Some Recent Trends, Notional Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi.

Werner, David (1995), Turning Health into an Investment, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXX, No.3, Pp.147.

World Bank (2003), World Development Indicators, Oxford University Press, New York.

World Bank (2001), India: Rising the Sights - Better Health Systems for India’s Poor, Report No. 22304, Health, Nutrition, Population Sector Unit, South Asia Region, New Delhi.