An empirical analysis of globalization, oil receipts and health expenditure in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the effect of globalisation and oil revenue on health expenditure in Nigeria. Thestudy used annual time series data spanning from 1980 to 2018. Unit root test was used to check thestationary level of the variables and Unrestricted Error Correction Model (UECM) and Dynamic OrdinaryLeast Square (DOLS) were used to estimate the model. The dependent variable was health expenditurewhile the explanatory variables were globalisation, oil revenue, health care price, per capita income,life expectancy, mortality rate urbanization and corruption. The result showed that oil receipt had a longrun and positive impact on health expenditure in Nigeria. However, globalisation had a negative andsignificant impact in the long-run though not significant in the short run. The implication is that both oilrevenue and globalisation are still very important variables influencing health expenditure in Nigeria. Itis recommended that government should increase allocation to the health sector from oil fiscal revenueso as to improve access to health care services in Nigeria. Also, the government should work on how thecountry can benefit from globalisation through more export and less of import.