Ekonomik büyüme ve sağlık üzerine denemeler

This thesis contributes to understanding the relationship between economic growth and health. The first chapter develops an augmented Solow model with the government to examine the absenteeism implications of the workforce's poor health status. The empirical part tests the theory-backed convergence equation and provides dynamic panel data estimates for OECD countries. The empirical findings confirm the theoretical results and show that an increase in the number of absent days incurs high costs for countries in terms of reduced productivity, lower savings, and hence lower long-run output growth. The second chapter examines the impact of health expenditures on longrun capital accumulation and the welfare of households by providing two extended Ramsey models with the government. The results show that increases in personal and public health spending raise capital accumulation and disposable income through their positive externality effects on the labor force, but they also raise concerns about budgets due to their unavoidable increases. The chapter further derives two augmented Solow models to empirically examine the link between health expenditures and economic growth among OECD members and LDCs. The last chapter empirically explores the nexus between economic growth and adult obesity. The findings provide clear evidence of absolute and faster conditional obesity convergence and show that economic factors, including income inequality and openness to trade, significantly explain the observed trends in obesity growth among OECD countries. Each chapter provides valuable insights and different perspectives into the critical role that policy can play in promoting health and long-run economic growth. Keywords: Solow Growth Model, Ramsey Growth Model, Beta Convergence, Sickness Absenteeism, Health Care Expenditures, Adult Obesity.