Employment and education effects on HIV/AIDS prevalence rate and economic growth: empirical investigation in ECOWAS.

Komivi Afawubo (1) , Samuel Mathey (2)

1 CEREFIGE - Centre Européen de Recherche en Economie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises
2 ICN Business School

We analyse the simultaneous effects of employment and education on GDP growth and HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the long and short run across the 15 countries of ECOWAS. Our results suggest that employment and primary education are the main HIV/AIDS prevalence rate reduction drivers in the short run with primary education having a simultaneous effect on HIV/AIDS prevalence rate (reduction) and GDP growth (increase) while secondary education drives the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate reduction in the long term. Education and employment may therefore become the short-run policy targets in combatting HIV/AIDS prevalence rate among the active population and achieving economic growth. Our results equally suggest that GDP growth by itself may not be an HIV/AIDS reduction driver.

Mots clés: education and economic development; economic growth; health; employment

Domaines: Economies et finances; Gestion et management

Komivi Afawubo, Samuel Mathey. Employment and education effects on HIV/AIDS prevalence rate and economic growth: empirical investigation in ECOWAS.. Applied Economics Letters, 2014, 21 (11), pp.755 - 759. ⟨10.1080/13504851.2014.887188⟩. ⟨hal-01369791⟩