Effective Factors on Per Capita Healthcare Expenditure: A Comparison of Spatial Models in Selected Developing Countries

The impact of effective factors on healthcare expenditure will be appeared in the public health. Providing health services, such as health centers, is an effective factor in controlling the. Given the high potential of medical knowledge in our country, the existence of equipped health centers can lead policy makers and economic actors to health tourism industry. Therefore, examining the effective factors on health expenditures can be a new perspective for experts. Thus, this study compares the Spatial Error Model (SEM), Mixed Regression - Spatial Autoregressive Model (MR-SAR), and Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) with consideration of their geographical spatial dependency, in order to identify the most appropriate model that can explain the effective variables on per capita healthcare expenditures during 1995-2014. The results indicate that per capita income and life expectancy have positive impacts on per capita healthcare expenditures and the effects of foreign aid and population on per capita healthcare expenditures are negative. Moreover, the impact of spatial dependency on healthcare expenditures has been confirmed and the Spatial Durbin Model has been selected as the best model.