Education and Health in G7 Countries: Achieving Better Outcomes with Less Spending

By Victoria Gunnarsson, Stéphane Carcillo, Marijn Verhoeven

November 1, 2007

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Victoria Gunnarsson, Stéphane Carcillo, and Marijn Verhoeven. Education and Health in G7 Countries: Achieving Better Outcomes with Less Spending, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2007) accessed September 18, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

Enhancing the efficiency of education and health spending is a key policy challenge in G7 countries. The paper assesses this efficiency and seeks to establish a link between differences in efficiency across countries and policy and institutional factors. The findings suggest that reforms aimed at increasing efficiency need to take into account the nature and causes of inefficiencies. Inefficiencies in G7 countries mostly reflect lack of cost effectiveness in acquiring real resources, such as teachers and pharmaceuticals. We also find that high wage spending is associated with lower efficiency. In addition, lowering student-teacher ratios is associated with reduced efficiency in the education sector, while immunizations and doctors' consultations coincide with higher efficiency in the health sector. Greater autonomy for schools seems to raise efficiency in secondary education.

Subject: Education, Education spending, Expenditure, Health, Health care spending

Keywords: Country, Health status, OECD ranking distribution, Public spending, Spending, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

50
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2007/263
Stock No:

WPIEA2007263
ISBN:

9781451868265
ISSN:

1018-5941

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