Authors
1 Professor, Department of Development Economics and Planning, Faculty of Economics and Management, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran
3 P. hd student, Economic Science, Faculty of Economics and Management, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
Highlights
Introduction
The category of health is one of the basic necessities of the development process at all levels, including individual to national levels, and plays a significant role in the formation of human capital (Black et al., 2022). Protecting and improving health it is necessary and this requires resources such as time, money and organizational support (Oche, 2020). One of the most important areas of support for institutions is creating employment and trust for individuals and citizens. Maintaining employment by generating income; it improves health outcomes (Raftopoulou et al., 2021). A decrease in income; it has more harmful effects on health than the increase in income. An increase in income in low-income groups is related to the category of health; however, this relationship decreases with an increase in the level of income. For example, in higher income groups, an increase in income can lead to more stress and lifestyle changes, cardiovascular diseases and harmful habits such as smoking. On the other hand, economic fluctuations such as recession can have negative or worse effects on people's health and lead to severe cardiovascular diseases, malnutrition, psychological problems such as suicide, smoking and unemployment for the majority of the society (Belotti et al., 2022).
Methodology
In the present study, in order to investigate the role of unemployment on health, following some empirical studies in this field, including Biaro et al. (2023), the research model was specified as follows:
In this study, in order to investigate the effects of the mentioned independent variables on health, the annual data of 21 countries in the Middle East and North Africa for the period of 2000-2021 was used. The data wasextracted from the World Bank database. The quantile panel econometric method was used to estimate the model.
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework of the research was the relationship between unemployment and health. There were also different views on these two variables.
Results and discussion
The estimation results showed that in all quantiles, unemployment had a negative and significant effect on life expectancy. Therefore, in 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 0.95 quantiles, the decreased life expectancies were respectively by 0.45, 0.39, 0.18 and 17 Variables of current costs of health, trade and gross domestic product had a positive and significant impact on life expectancy in all quantiles. Regarding the influence of the independent variables of the research on the death rate, unemployment had a positive and significant effect on the death rate in all quantiles and in 0.25 0.50, 0.75 and 0.95 quantiles, the increase was respectively 0.72, 0.24, 0.60 and 0.32. The variables of current costs of health, trade and gross domestic product had a negative and significant impact on the death rate. The current health costs in 0.25, 50, 0.75 and 0.95 quotients the increased life expectancies were respectively by 0.77, 0.82, 0.48 and 0.71while the decreased mortality rates were respectively 0.0, 0.58, 0.47 and 0.63. The estimated regression determination coefficient for different quantiles wasbetween 0.85 and 0.96. The research results showed the negative impact of unemployment on the health index of life expectancy and the positive impact of unemployment on the health index of death rate, confirming the studies of Kaiser et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2016; Arkaya et al., 2014; Ellison and Storey, 2009 are consistent.
Conclusion
Considering the important role they play in long-term economic growth and development, unemployment and health are central to the policy decisions of governments in developed and developing countries. Therefore, in the present study, the effects of the unemployment on the health of Middle Eastern and North African countries were analyzed. Also, of other factors affecting health, current health costs, share of trade, GDP per capita were used as control variables. For the health index, two variables of life expectancy and death rate, were used. The experimental results of the Jarque test and its probability distribution, which were given in the descriptive analysis section of the data, rejected the null hypothesis, the normality of the data, and have outliers. Therefore, according to these cases, the quantile econometric approach could be used. The results of the estimation of the research model using the quantile method showed that in the studied sample in the period of 2000-2021 in all quantiles of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 0.95 the unemployment had a negative and significant effect on the index. Life expectancy had a positive and significant effect on the death rate, while GDP, share of trade, current health costs had positive and significant effects on the health index, life expectancy and a negative and significant effect on the death rate. According to the results of this research, unemployment had negative effects on people's life expectancy. Indeed, having a job and stable income, in addition to meeting financial needs, gives people a sense of security and financial independence, which guarantees the improvement of their quality of life. With an increase in unemployment, people may face financial and social problems, which can decrease self-confidence and increase stress and anxiety. These issues can lead to a decrease in hope and disappointment in life. Therefore, maintaining a suitable level of employment and income and creating job opportunities for the society can help to maintain people's hope and spirit. In addition, unemployment can have a positive effect on the death rate, which the results of the present study showed. Unemployment causes a decrease in people's income and financial resources, which can lead to a decrease in access to health and treatment services, and, thus, cause an increase in the death rate. As mentioned, unemployment increases stress, anxiety and depression, and these factors can lead to physical and mental complications and ultimately increase the death rate. The research results are consistent with the studies of Yamben and Asah (2020), Erji et al. (2020), Jonah et al. (2020) and Norostrom and Groenquist (2015) and contradict the research of Dadger and Norostrom (2022).
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Main Subjects