Growth and welfare under endogenous lifetime

Arbeitspapier

We develop a perpetual youth model to investigate how longevity affects economic growth and welfare. Life expectancy is determined by individuals' investments in healthcare. We find that improvements in the healthcare technology always increase the steady state growth rate. Although the effect is small, even for large increases in longevity, welfare gains may be substantial depending on the type of the technological improvement. We identify two externalities associated with healthcare investments and provide a condition when healthcare expenditures are inefficiently low in the market equilibrium. Finally, we discuss our results with respect to alternative spillover specifications in the production sector.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Papers ; No. 10-13

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity: General ; Health: General ; Demographic Economics: General
• Subject: economic growth ; endogenous longevity ; healthcare expenditures ; healthcare technology ; quality-quantity trade-off ; Sterblichkeit ; Wirtschaftswachstum ; Gesundheitsversorgung ; Technischer Fortschritt ; Gesundheitskosten ; Wohlfahrtsanalyse ; Theorie

Contributors, Location and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Schneider, Maik T. ; Winkler, Ralph
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Bern, Department of Economics
• (where): Bern
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/76747
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET