Breaking Barriers: Unlocking Opportunities to Optimize Public Health and Environmental Quality Benefits in Developing Economies

Abstract

The surge in healthcare costs in recent years can be attributed to the harmful effects of pollution, rapid economic expansion, and social issues that negatively impact public health. The study utilizes the most advanced statistical techniques available to investigate the impact of carbon dioxide emissions and environmental indices on government and private healthcare expenditures in six emerging economies from 1994 to 2021. The findings reveal that carbon emissions and environmental index have a significant positive impact on public healthcare expenditure but a negative effect on private healthcare spending in developing nations. Sustainable economic growth supports healthcare spending, whereas foreign direct investment has mixed impacts, deleterious to public expenditure but salutary to private spending. Population aging is associated with increased healthcare costs, while secondary education is demonstrated to reduce personal healthcare spending in developing economies. Moreover, the study affirms the health-wealth nexus prevails in developing economies. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers to pursue in optimizing public health and environmental quality benefits, which are inexorably linked to sustainable economic growth and progress in developing nations.