Macroeconomic Policies and Health Status in Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigates macroeconomic policies and health status in Nigeria. With the objective of ascertaining the most viable macroeconomic policy variables on health status of Nigerians, the study utilized secondary annual time series data spanning the period of 37years from 1981 and 2017. To test the existence of unit root in the series, the ADF stationarity test was carried and the result shows that all series were I(0) and I(1). The Johansen Co-integration results from the trace test and maximum eigen value indicate the presence of at least three co-integrating equations in the model, implying that a long run relationship exists between health status and macroeconomic variables. The bound test also corroborates the existence of long run association among the variables. Empirically, the estimates ultimately confirmed that public capital expenditure, domestic debt and financial deepening have long run significant impact on health status in Nigeria. Inflation is the only macroeconomic variable that does affect health status significantly. On the basis of the empirical findings, the study thus recommends that for health outcomes in Nigeria to improve, appropriate macroeconomic policy mix should be focused on capital expenditure, domestic debt and financial inclusion (making funds available to the poor and vulnerable in the society).