The recent studies of economic growth have shown increasing interest in
the potential economic profits that improved health condition of populations could bring.
The World Health Organization’s reports Macroeconomics and Health: Investing in
Health for Economic Development of 2001 and The Contribution of Health to the
Economy in the European Union of 2005 significantly contributed to the promotion of
health as a factor of economic growth. Both of them suggest that investing in health as a
vehicle of economic growth is necessary not only in countries at a low level of economic
development, but also in the developed ones.
This recommendation arises from the fact that education and health are one of the
basic determinants of the quality of human capital. On a micro scale, health is treated as
a prerequisite for personal development, enabling the achievement of a satisfactory
economic status. In terms of the entire economy, the beneficial influence of good health
can manifest itself thorough growing productivity of labour, lower costs of absenteeism
caused by sick leaves, and limited costs of medical interventions that altogether may
improve social well-being and reduce poverty.
Variations in economic results caused by health inequalities can be analysed for the
entire economy, a region or with respect to individuals. The presented investigation
aimed to verify a hypothesis, according to which the health condition of the regional
population can be one of the factors determining regional development. The
investigation used a panel sample comprising particular voivodeships as they were
between 1999 and 2008. Application of dynamic panel data models allowed identifying
a relationship between different health indicators and GDP variations
