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| Kevin x.d. Huang, Hui He and Sheng-ti Hung |
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| ''Substituting Leisure for Health Expenditure: A General Equilibrium-Based Empirical Investigation'' |
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| We develop a general equilibrium macroeconomic model with endogenous health
accumulation, and we use the model's equilibrium condition to estimate the
elasticity of substitution between medical care and leisure time in
maintaining health, based on a cross-country panel dataset. Our econometric
estimates imply that increasing health-enhancing leisure time may
substantially reduce the nation's medical expenditure and help resolve its
pressing fiscal uncertainty. Our study highlights the importance of several
current nationwide campaigns aimed at improving national health status,
from not only health but macroeconomic perspectives. Our study also provides
a guidance to a growing macro-health literature in modeling health
production. |
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| Keywords: general equilibrium, macro-health,
health care, leisure time, elasticity of substitution, fiscal uncertainty |
JEL: E2 - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment: General (includes Measurement and Data)
I1 - Health: General |
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| Manuscript Received : Dec 14 2013 | | Manuscript Accepted : Dec 23 2013 |
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