Ökonomische Aspekte der Bildungsversäumnisse

Health as a fundamental good is considered a prerequisite for all activities of the human condition. Health as a consumer product is thus a substantial but not an exclusive prerequisite for a successful life. As a capital good health provides a return in the form of healthy days of life that enables us to enjoy the little things in life, in particular, gainful employment in order to generate income. Individuals produce health by utilizing various inputs whereby the demand for health care services is considered a derived demand of health. With increasing age, and, depending on the living conditions, the capital stock of health decreases; additional, increasing investments over time are necessary in order to compensate for the deteriorating health status. Education is an efficiency factor in the process of producing health that enables better use of the available resources. The available evidence largely confirms the implications that can be derived from the model for the importance to health of investments in education. However, gender-specific characteristics and the significance of socio-economic differences between the population groups must be taken into account.