Health gap between developed and developing countries: Does globalization matter?

• Published in: Economic change and restructuring Vol. 52; no. 2; pp. 123 - 138
• Main Authors: Elmawazini, Khaled, Manga, Pranlal, Nwankwo, Sonny, AlNaser, Bader
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.05.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Dependency; Developed countries; Developing countries; Development Economics; Economic Growth; Economic models; Economic Policy; Economics; Economics and Finance; Globalization; Health disparities; International Economics; LDCs; Longitudinal studies; Macroeconomics/Monetary Economics//Financial Economics; Panel data; Political Economy/Economic Systems; SSA; F6; Life expectancy; OECD; Health gap; Dynamic panel data; Globalization; I1; O55
• ISSN: 1573-9414; 1574-0277
• DOI: 10.1007/s10644-017-9219-0

Whilst there is a rich body of literature linking globalization with economic disparities between rich and poor nations, there is very little situated understanding of causal links, if any, between globalization and health gaps between nations. Set against this background, this paper contributes to the empirical literature by investigating globalization as a channel of the health gap between countries in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Results from a dynamic panel data analysis show that globalization has statistically insignificant impact on the health gap between the OECD and SSA countries. Rather, economic and demographic structures, measured by the age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) and GDP per capita growth emerged as the main determinants of the health gap between SSA and OECD countries. The paper draws out some policy implications which may usefully impact programmes aimed at checking health inequities between developing and developed countries.