Health and Economic Growth Relationship
Question by Professor: Discuss the relationship between health and economic growth. What are the pros and cons of the two?
Student 1: Faisal Hashim
Health Growth and Economic Growth have a positive correlation to one another. With growth in the healthcare sector of a nation such as the United States the economic growth is also stimulated. In theory when one looks at the benefits of an overall healthy population that healthy population tends to have a longer life span, less days missed of work, more money invested, more spending and thus a stronger economy. Moreover, a healthy team of employees can typically have better attendance, use their time more efficiently, accomplish more or complete more tasks and are generally more productive for various contributing factors (Becker, Glaeser, & Murphy 1999).
In poorer countries and populations where children lack nutrition, food, and education this population will likely be less productive in the future and contribute to a less productive economical picture as opposed to nations or populations that have well-nourished children without shortage of food. Nutrients are essential to the fundamental principals of healthy learning and therefore some countries or geographic areas make meal plans either thru the government or other programs part of attending school to better the overall education, health of children and thus create a more prosperous future for the overall population with more educated and higher contributing members of society (Ettah, 2016).
With better healthcare systems, improved access to healthcare, and essentials such as food, nutrients, education, and healthy lifestyle population lifespans increase, populations become more likely to become educated and pursue college educations and even further their education becoming doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals, and many other contributing members to a prosperous economy. With healthy lifestyles starting from a young age and good habits such as not using cigarettes, not engaging in drug use, and having meals daily children tend to excel as children and later in life (Goczek, Witkowska& Witkowski, 2021). Health and Economic Growth Relationship
References
Becker, G. S., Glaeser, E. L., & Murphy, K. M. (1999). Population and economic growth. American Economic Review, 89(2), 145-149. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/population-economic-growth/docview/38753067/se-2?accountid=35796
Ettah, B. E. (2016). Population Growth and Economic Growth Performance in Nigeria (1981 – 2014). Turkish Economic Review, 3(1), 143-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1453/ter.v3i1.611
Goczek, Ł., Witkowska, E., & Witkowski, B. (2021). How Does Education Quality Affect Economic Growth? Sustainability, 13(11), 6437. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13116437
Response to student 1
Hi Faisal,
I enjoyed reading your post. I agree with your ideas and would like to add to that improvement in health of the labor workers lets them to increase the productivity during their working shifts which leads to the increase life expectancy of the labor workers. Also, it can be said that increase in income of the country can help in increasing the progress of the country in the health sectors which can help in fighting the diseases and disabilities in the country (Sell, & Williams, 2020)
Advanced healthcare systems in the country of USA can help in improving the efficiency of the people. Also advanced health care workers results in the increase in number of new healthcare jobs that can help in the increasing the wages of the labor. I would also like to add that the improvement in the health of the people contributes to the increase in the national growth of the country (Kieny et al., 2017).
References
Sell, S. K., & Williams, O. D. (2020). Health under capitalism: a global political economy of structural pathogenesis. Review of International Political Economy, 27(1), 1-25.
Kieny, M. P., Bekedam, H., Dovlo, D., Fitzgerald, J., Habicht, J., Harrison, G., … & Travis, P. (2017). Strengthening health systems for universal health coverage and sustainable development. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 95(7), 537.
Student 2: Tiffany Lawton
In order to evaluate the relationship between economic growth and health, it is essential to comprehend the concept of health in an extensive sense. Health is the lack of illnesses and the capability of persons to advance their ability during their lives. On the other hand, economic growth is an increase in the number of products and services generated by an economy over time. Consequently, health is a vital determinant of economic growth. For starters, good health is a capital that directly impacts economic growth through greater productivity, hence better income per head. Human capital is critical to economic growth since it acts as a stimulator of economic development (Piabuo&Tieguhong, 2017). Additionally, child health affects the future income of persons through the ramifications welfare has on education. Healthy children will better perform in school; as a result, positively impacting their future income.
Advantages and disadvantages of being healthy
The main benefit of health is that it increases physical activity, resulting in better productivity and concentration at work. Moreover, health leads to longevity and the prevention of disease that makes people feel better about themselves. In contrast, the major shortcoming of health is that it takes time and is costly. All aspects of health take time to be enacted and require financial resources to be effective. Activities like exercise and eating health require an expense that most persons are unwilling to pay (Redyrs, 2020).
Pros and cons of economic growth
Economic growth has various advantages that include lower unemployment since higher economic development results in increased demand for workers as companies generate more goods and services. Furthermore, higher gross domestic product leads to increased consumption which decreases instances of absolute poverty. On the other hand, economic growth can result in inflation because such development usually is not sustainable. Economic growth also increases inequality because this growth mainly benefits the rich who own assets and have well-paying jobs (Pettinger, 2018).
References
Pettinger, T. (2018). Pros and cons of an increase in economic growth. Retrieved from https://www.economicshelp.org/macroeconomics/macroessays/evaluate-benefits-growth/
Piabuo, S. M., &Tieguhong, J. C. (2017). Health expenditure and economic growth – a review of the literature and an analysis between the economic community for central African states (CEMAC) and selected African countries. Retrieved from https://healtheconomicsreview.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13561-017-0159-1
Redyrs, S. (2020). Advantages and Disadvantages of a Healthy Lifestyle. Retrieved from http://saspotters.blogspot.com/2020/02/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-healthy-lifestyle.ht
Response to Student 2
Hi Tiffany,
I concur to what you are saying and would like to add to your ideas that health care systems helps in the eradication of the diseases and their prevention. Better healthcare systems helps in providing the people with the treatment of the prolonged healthcare conditions which in turn keeps majority of the working and results in a better economy of the country. Other than this, I would add that healthcare sectors becomes the part of GDP and helps in its growth (Khoshnevis Yazdi, & Khanalizadeh, 2017).
I would also like to add that the healthcare systems which are not cost effective impose burden on the people of the country which decreases the number of the employees who provide insurance for the healthcare. Along with this, the rise in the healthcare cost can promote the economy but result in negatively impacting the household savings of the people and makes them unable to fulfill educational costs which in turn restricts the people from getting educations and reduces the number of the employees, negatively impacting the economy of the country (Özdemir, & Özdemir, 2019).
References
Khoshnevis Yazdi, S., & Khanalizadeh, B. (2017). Air pollution, economic growth and health care expenditure. Economic research-Ekonomska istraživanja, 30(1), 1181-1190.
Özdemir, D., & Özdemir, H. Ö. (2019). Health care cost of socioeconomic inequalities: a pioneering population-wide study. American journal of public health, 109(6), 835.