Health in the Developing World : A panel data study on the determinants of health expenditures in the world’s least developed countries

Sammanfattning: The determinants of health expenditures have been studied extensively for the past 50 years and income has been seen as the major driver. The focus has rarely left developed countries which raises the question as to whether the same positive relationship exists in developing countries as well. The purpose of this thesis is to answer this question by conducting a fixed effect regression on a sample of 38 countries labelled as the least developed in the world by the United Nations with data stretching between 2000 to 2017. The results indicate a weaker relationship in the sample compared to estimates on developed countries. However, due to a lack of theoretical guidance on how health expenditures are determined and indications that omitted variable bias is present, the results do not provide definitive conclusions.