Examining the Correlation Between More Schooling and Better Health

Why are higher income and social status associated with better health? If it were just a matter of the poorest and lowest status groups having poor health, the explanation could be things like poor living conditions. But the effect occurs all across the socio-economic spectrum. Considerable research indicates that the degree of control people have over life circumstances,

Education is an important social determinant of health because it affects many other determinants. Generally, people with worst health status have low education levels. Furthermore, people with low levels of education are more likely to have lifestyles which can lead to a chronic illness. Education empowers people with skills to

From an economic perspective, there is an increased recognition of the benefits of society from the promotion of health and the prevention of disease, disability, and premature death. In addition, financing health care has been focused on medicine and some progress has been made towards health promotion and disease prevention; however, the progress in this direction is very slow due to social and institutional beliefs and values.

The determinants of health are economic and social conditions that affect people’s health status. These influence the living and working conditions that impacts people’s everyday living condition. Factors such as the place and the environment we live in, genetics, educational level or work status and income, as well as friends and family are some of the aspects that affects our health condition. On the other hand, the people that have an access to good health care and have financial stability are less susceptible and are often less affected. (NANB, 2009)

A Health care system of any country is an important consideration for the purposes of the overall development. One of the most important and essential feature of the human body is the health and the systems. In the same manner, proper management is also necessary. Furthermore, all the countries of the world have few targets and achievements to be made. On the other hand, it should also be noted down that, economic development and social welfare the two most are the two important factors. Economic welfare is connected with the increase in the wealth of the people at large (Niles, 2011).

The relationship between the determinants of health and health outcomes had been thoroughly studied. In policies or programs to reduce and prevent health disparities, factors that contribute to the rise in trends are called the determinants of social health. It is equally important to recognize that childhood is an important time in which interventions can have a significant impact on health outcomes throughout life. (Dubiel et al, 2010)

The more time people spend to cure their illness the more time of work they lose. In the modern economy, time is money, so when people lose their time they also lose money. Generally, the economy will be “cost billions of dollars” (Colliver) because people are losing their time and money to cure their illnesses which come from their bad habit of consuming fast foods.

Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making us Sick, clearly explored the relationship between socioeconomic status and health, it was said that college graduates live 2.5 years longer than high school graduates” (California Newsreel, 2008). This documentary illustrated how one’s level of education not only impacts their quality of life, but also impacts the duration of one’s life.

The marginal analysis in relation to health care economics is a way of thinking about the optimal allocation of resources and making decisions at “the margin” (Henderson, 2015). Self-interest relates to economic decision makers’ personal interest that affects the decisions they make (Henderson, 2015). The markets and pricing concept is used to efficiently allocate the resources that are considered scarce (Henderson, 2015). The supply and demand concept is used as a tool in performing economic analysis (Henderson, 2015). Competition creates an environment where resource owners are forced to use their resources to promote the highest possible satisfaction of society (Henderson, 2015). Efficiency is used to measure how well resources are being used to promote social welfare (Henderson, 2015). Market failure is when the free market fails to promote the efficient use of resources (Henderson, 2015). Comparative advantage explores people benefit from the voluntary exchange when production decisions are based on opportunity cost (Henderson,

People will have health insurance at low costs, which means people can get care, stay healthy giving rise to a healthier nation. Consequently, does a healthy nation mean more productivity, GDP growth and better economy or a strain on the health care infrastructure as more people visit doctors and hospitals giving scope to increased health accidents, malpractices and unsustainable costs?

Grossman’s model states that a person utility is based on health (H) and other non-health related goods (Z) that the person consumes. The production possibility frontier for Grossman model shows the tradeoff between home good production (Z) and health (H). Unlike usual production possibility frontiers, an individual needs an optimal level of H to maximize consumption of Z goods.

Furthermore, the framework focuses on three target domains (Shonkoff, 2010). The first is that the environment in which the child is raised influences their health (nurturing vs. neglect) (Shonkoff, 2010). The second domain focuses on the existence of physiological markers that are dependent on the environment (Shonkoff, 2010). The third area focuses on the adult and how educational achievement and economic productivity associated with health outcomes (Shonkoff, 2010).

Changing factors such as aging populations and new technologies becoming available are increasing expectations from people throughout the world, and decision makers must make rational choices to maximise benefits to population health whilst working with limited resources. Yothasamut et al (2009) summarise this by observing that "health care resources in every setting are always constrained, while unlimited demand is observed". The 'best' choices in the context of economics are the ones which maximise utility (individual satisfaction through consumption of goods) and welfare, the sum utility experienced by all individuals in society. Decision makers often have to seek satisfactory rather than optimal solutions, also known as working with 'bounded rationality' (Simon 1957 in Williams et al 2008), as it is important to pursue both efficiency and equity in the funding of health care. Therefore, it may be unsuitable to fund the most cost effective option if it sacrifices the equal distribution of benefits. Research in health economics can take a normative or positive approach and this reflects the balance needed between cost control and equity when making economic decisions. Positive economic research and analysis is concerned with 'how things are' and seeks to explain economic phenomena, whilst normative economic research and analysis is concerned with 'how things ought to be' and relies on value

Unlike earnings and income that have relatively straightforward methods of measurement, consumption is a trickier pattern to quantify. Ordinarily, consumption is measured as a flow per unit of time, and it’s important to calculate its imputed flows for durables. That gives a more realistic description of spending patterns at any given moment (which closer approximates consumption inequality). By contrast, health is usually considered a “stock”, and

The first point, and that which is essential to the analysis, is how health is an exceptional object of trade because it is linked to certain moral imperatives. According