Aleksandra Kuzior

Faculty of Organization and Management,

Silesian University of Technology, Poland

Email: aleksandra.kuzior@polsl.pl

ORCID 0000-0001-9764-5320 

Health-led economic growth in short and long run: Case of European countries

Alina Vysochyna

Department of Accounting and Taxation, 

Sumy State University, Ukraine

Email: a.vysochyna@uabs.sumdu.edu.ua

ORCID 0000-0001-9490-1026

Armenia Androniceanu

Faculty of Administration and Public Management

Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Email: armenia.androniceanu@man.ase.ro

ORCID 0000-0001-7307-5597

Samer Khouri

Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Kosice, Slovak Republic

Email: samer.khouri@tuke.sk 

ORCID 0000-0003-3925-5177

Abstract. In recent decades, while public expenditure on healthcare has increased considerably, life expectancy growth has slowed down. Therefore, research on the relationship between healthcare financing and economic growth has become highly relevant in determining the efficiency of financial resource allocation. This study aims to explore three hypotheses on the subject. The first hypothesis is that increase in healthcare spending has a positive impact on economic growth in long run, the second – assess the same relationships in short run, and the third – assumes that scale and direction of the relationships in the chain “health expenditures → GDP per capita growth” varies due to country income. Hypotheses testing involves application of cluster analysis, Calinski–Harabasz pseudo-F stopping rule, pooled mean group estimator, and Hausman test based on data for 34 European countries for the period 2000-2023. The obtained results only partially confirmed the hypotheses. 

Received: July, 2024

1st Revision: May, 2025

Accepted: June, 2025

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2025/18-2/15

JEL Classification: C23, F63, H51, I15, O47, O52

Keywords: economic growth, health, expenditure, healthcare financing, European countries