Vol 8, No 3 (2020)
Health Services Costs, Household Income and Health Expenditure in South Africa
Elvis Munyaradzi Ganyaupfu
Abstract
The aim of this study was to estimate the effects of the changes in health services costs and household income on health services expenditure by households in South Africa, and assess if disturbances follow a linear autoregressive moving average structure. Using time-series data for the sample period 1976-2017 and controlling for households’ disposable income, the ARIMAX method was used for estimation using Stata software. Results show that a rise in health services costs had a statistically significant negative effect on health expenditure by households, whereas household disposable income had a significant positive effect. Based on the sizes of estimates, health expenditure’s strong positive reaction to increases in household disposable income and low responsiveness to increases in health services costs provide evidence that households indeed regard health as a necessity as opposed to being a luxury.
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Keywords
Health services costs; Household; Consumer; Disposable income.
Publication information
Volume 8, Issue 3
Year of Publication: 2020
ISSN: 1857 - 8721
Publisher: EDNOTERA
How to cite
Ganyaupfu, E. M.: Health Services Costs, Household Income and Health Expenditure in South Africa. Journal of Applied Economics and Business, Vol 8, No. 3, 20-30. (2020)