Interrelationships Between Health Capital and Education: New Empirical Evidence from Iran

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the interrelationships between health capital and education in Iran during the period 1980-2013.
The econometric vector error correction model was used to obtain patterns, using the Eviews 9 software for data analysis.
Results The data showed that the coefficient related to the effect of education index on the health index and that related to the effect of health index on the education index were both negative. In other words, improvements in education had led to improvements in health capital and vice-versa.
It can be concluded that improvements in education can reduce child mortality and, consequently, improve health capital. Also, improvements in health capital can lead to improvements in education index. Therefore, it is empirically proven that these two indices are interrelated in Iran. This means that investment in both sectors can accelerate simultaneously improvements in both health capital and education indices. In Article 24 in chapter three of the Fifth National Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan achieving a human development index (HDI) close to that in countries with high HDIs and coordination with regard to growth of education, occupation and health indices have received particular emphasis. So, considering the emphasis put on the health system in the Fifth Plan, the policy recommendation is that economic policy-makers should pay special attention to allocating financial resources to the health and education sectors in Iran.