Muritala Olayemi Ogunsiji Thesis Defense

Title: Health Expenditure and Health Outcomes in Developing and Emerging Economies
This paper examines the effect of general health expenditure on life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rate in a sample of 82 developing and emerging economies using the fixed effects estimation technique. It further explores the possible heterogeneous effect of health expenditure measures on the health outcomes. The study finds that health expenditure as a percentage of GDP has a positive and significant effect on life expectancy at birth but no significant effect on infant mortality. On the other hand, health expenditure per capita has no significant effect on life expectancy at birth or infant mortality once we control for the GDP per capita. Furthermore, the study finds that the effect of health expenditure on health outcomes is heterogenous, as health expenditure has a significant effect on life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rate in low- and lower middle-income countries but not in upper middle- and high-income economies. The findings of this study imply that policymakers in low- and lower middle-income countries can improve their health outcomes by increasing health expenditure.

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