Public Health Expenditure and Gross State Domestic Product in India: A Regression Analysis

Abstract

Spending on health is essential to increase labour productivity and people's life expectancy. But, the individual ability to make necessary health expenditure is inadequate in low-income and developing nations like India. In this regard, the current study aims to investigate the causal relationship between public health spending and per capita GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product), as well as the GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) ratio, with a focus on a few chosen states of India (such as Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal). The states have been chosen to represent the nation, while secondary data on public health spending and GSDP has been gathered from the EPW Research Foundation. OLS (Ordinary Least Square) is used in conjunction with a linear regression model to analyse the data. To determine the increasing trend of public health expenditures, trend analysis also been conducted. The findings showed that there is an inverse association between the nation's health spending and both the per capita GSDP and ratio of GSDP. This suggests that public health spending is influenced by a variety of other factors as well. The paper's conclusion suggested placing greater focus on certain measures that assist low-income or impoverished families with regard to medical expenses.