The Impact of Economic Sanctions on Public Health Expenditure (Evidence of Developing Resource-Exporting Countries)

Economic sanctions, by causing economic problems for states and influencing their revenues and spending policies, can undermine the quality of life and health for common people. Sanctions can negatively affect the total amount of available resources in a country and the proportion of it allocated to public domains such as healthcare. Thereby sanctions can increase vulnerability of citizens. This study aims at investigating the impact of economic sanctions on public health expenditure in developing resource-exporting countries by applying dynamic panel data method over period 1996 to 2012. The result shows that both minor and major economic sanctions significantly decrease public health expenditure as a percentage of government expenditure. In addition, our findings indicate that major economic sanctions significantly increase public health expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product. This can be attributed to the fact that major economic sanctions have had a greater impact on gross domestic product than on public health expenditure. Overall, the results of this study show adverse effects of sanctions on the health of citizens by reducing allocated public expenditure to healthcare sector.