Comparative Analysis of Health and Economic Growth Nexus: A Case Study of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan

Abstract

Health is one of the key factor that determines the growth of an economy. It is the improved health of the labor that can translate into increased output levels, higher level of productivity and efficient utilization of resources. For the study, Pooled OLS regression over the period from 1980-2017 is applied on panel data to find the results of health and economic growth nexus for three lower middle income countries that are Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. For Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, their statistics provides further support to existing literature showing a significant and positive relationship of health with economic growth. Comparing their results, it is found that India’s better health facilities are contributing more towards economic growth as compared to Pakistan and Bangladesh. Therefore, their focus too should be on improvement of health indicators in order to achieve higher economic growth levels.