Vortrag
Output and Productivity Growth in the Healthcare Sector: A Study of Four European Countries

Mary O'Mahony, Antonia Huttl, Matilde Mas, Agnes Nagy, Erika Schulz, Lucy Stokes


33rd General Conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth (IARIW)
Rotterdam, Niederlande, 24.08.2014 - 30.08.2014




Abstract:
This paper attempts to measure output and productivity growth in the health care sector for four European countries, Germany, Hungary, Spain and the UK. It derives comparable costs weighted activity indexes for hospital outputs, shows the impact of quality adjustments using in-hospital mortality rates and derives output indices for some nonhospital output. Overall output growth is highest in the UK followed by Germany. Measures of labour input and labour productivity are present, with the latter showing similar growth in Germany, the UK and Hungary but slightly negative growth in Spain. This measurement exercise illustrates the difficulties in deriving comparable measures of productivity across countries whose healthcare systems vary enormously.

Abstract

This paper attempts to measure output and productivity growth in the health care sector for four European countries, Germany, Hungary, Spain and the UK. It derives comparable costs weighted activity indexes for hospital outputs, shows the impact of quality adjustments using in-hospital mortality rates and derives output indices for some nonhospital output. Overall output growth is highest in the UK followed by Germany. Measures of labour input and labour productivity are present, with the latter showing similar growth in Germany, the UK and Hungary but slightly negative growth in Spain. This measurement exercise illustrates the difficulties in deriving comparable measures of productivity across countries whose healthcare systems vary enormously.


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