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Inter-state disparities in government health expenditure in India: a study of national rural health mission

Mohammad Azhar Ud Din (Department of Economics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India)
Muzffar Hussain Dar (Department of Economics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India)
Shaukat Haseen (Department of Economics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India)

International Journal of Health Governance

ISSN: 2059-4631

Article publication date: 24 January 2023

Issue publication date: 27 March 2023

204

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to compare India's public health expenditure at the international and state levels. The paper also empirically examines the regional disparities in NRHM spending across the 21 selected states of India.

Design/methodology/approach

The tools of absolute β-and σ-convergence are used in the analysis to test the regional convergence. The average annual growth rate across the states is the dependent variable for β-convergence, and time is the second dependent variable but is used for s-convergence. In contrast, the initial value of NRHM expenditure and the coefficient of variation of NRHM expenditure are used as independent variables, respectively. Descriptive statistics are also used for the study. The data are annual and cover the panel from 2007 to 2020.

Findings

The study attests to the hypothesis of β-and σ-convergence for the selected states in the period mentioned. The observed convergence in NRHM expenditure is due to the shift in the government's attention from the non-high focus high focus states to high states through the national rural health mission policy. The coefficient of variation across the states also shows a declining trend and provides the robustness of the σ-convergence.

Originality/value

As far as the literature is concerned, none of the existing studies examines the convergence of a public health expenditure scheme like the National Rural Health Mission across the Indian states by applying the techniques of β-and σ-convergence. The novelty of the study is using the newly updated dataset and validating the convergence hypotheses in the National Rural Health Mission expenditure case.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Data availability statement: The data used in this paper has been collected from Indiastat, which is paid database, and one can only access the database via subscription. Some data Points have been collected from the NRHM expenditure site, owned and managed by the government of India. This data site is freely available to all.

Citation

Ud Din, M.A., Dar, M.H. and Haseen, S. (2023), "Inter-state disparities in government health expenditure in India: a study of national rural health mission", International Journal of Health Governance, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 82-94. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHG-12-2022-0108

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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