Graduation Year

2023

Date of Submission

4-2023

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

Reader 1

Jessamyn Schaller

Abstract

This paper examines how healthcare expenditures—among other factors—influence COVID-19 related death rates in different countries. Using data from 113 countries, I find that healthcare expenditure is significantly positively related to COVID-19 deaths, which suggests that other factors may also be important in affecting mortality rates due to the pandemic. This paper uses a multiple linear regression model to determine the effects of various country-level variables on COVID-19 mortality rates. Additional factors taken into consideration include healthcare resource availability, population demographics, and healthcare system quality. I find that healthcare expenditures and percentage of population in each country aged 65+ are significantly positively related to COVID-19 mortality. Hospital beds per thousand is also significantly negatively related with COVID-19 mortality. These findings have important implications for policymakers seeking to reduce COVID-19 mortality and highlights the importance of investment in healthcare systems as well as the need for targeted interventions to address the social determinants of health.

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This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

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