Gasto público en salud, crecimiento económico y elasticidad de sustitución: resultados para la economía española 1985-2003

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect that government expenditure on health has on economic growth by estimating the elasticity of substitution for a CES production function in the Spanish economy during the period 1985-2003. Our results show that the higher the efforts of public administrations in providing greater public health coverage the higher the elasticity of substitution between production factors will be, and consequently this will benefit economic growth.