COVID-19 mortality and health expenditures across European countries: The positive correlation puzzle

Serge Blondel (1, 2) , Radu Vranceanu (3)

1 GRANEM - Groupe de Recherche Angevin en Economie et Management
2 LIRAES (URP_ 4470) - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Recherche Appliquée en Economie de la Santé
3 ESSEC Business School and THEMA (UMR 8184)

The positive correlation between health share expenditures and COVID-19 case fatalities in a cross-section of 31 European countries is puzzling. The positive relationships is also detected in weighted OLS and IV models that control for many usual suspects of the COVID-19 mortality: (1) health indicators (personal risk factors, medical resources), (2) virus ease of circulation, (3) macroeconomic variables related to the economic development and social orientation of the country. COVID-19 case fatalities are lower in countries with significant resources dedicated to health care (hospital beds and medical doctors); the contribution of virus circulation factors is less significant. Policy implications follow.

Mots clés: COVID-19; health care systems; Europe; efficiency; mortality; health policy

Domaines: Economies et finances

Serge Blondel, Radu Vranceanu. COVID-19 mortality and health expenditures across European countries: The positive correlation puzzle. 2021. ⟨hal-03243428⟩