THE CONTRIBUTION OF FEMALE HEALTH TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bloom, David E.; Kuhn, Michael; Prettner, Klaus
• 署名单位: Harvard University; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; University of Vienna; International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA); University Hohenheim
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaa061
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 1650-1677
• 关键词: labor-force participation; life expectancy; demographic-transition; Differential fertility; endogenous growth; Maternal health; gender-gap; income; INEQUALITY; mortality

摘要

We analyse the economic consequences for poor countries of investing in female health within a unified growth model featuring health-related gender differences in productivity. Better female health accelerates the demographic transition and thereby the take-off towards sustained economic growth. By contrast, male health improvements delay the transition and take-off because they tend to raise fertility. However, households tend to prefer male health improvements over female health improvements because they imply a larger static utility gain. This highlights the existence of a dynamic trade-off between the short-run interests of households and long-run development goals.