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donsutherland1 · 07-10-08, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scucca

...Consider, for example, Tapia and Ionides (2008, The reversal of the relation between economic growth and health progress: Sweden in the 19th and 20th centuries, Journal of Health Economics, Vol 27, pp 544-563) who conclude:

”Therefore, this investigation shows that, year to year, economic growth was strongly associated with health progress in Sweden in the first half of the 19th century, with the association becoming weaker and weaker in the next hundred years, to be substituted by a negative lagged association in the second half of the 20th century, in which economic growth has a negative effect on health progress with a short lag of about 1 or 2 years. There is no evidence of effects of economic growth on health at longer lags in any of the periods of the two centuries included in the study...”

Just a matter of opinion, as I have not looked at the relationship between economic development and health outcomes in any degree of great detail, it would not surprise me if diminishing marginal returns manifest themselves in that relationship on account of some of the tradeoffs Tapia and Ionides mention.