Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Marson, Marta    
Author-Email: marta.marson@unito.it 
Author-Name: Migheli, Matteo
Author-Email: matteo.migheli@unito.it  
Author-Name: Saccone, Donatella 
Author-Email: donatella.saccone@unito.it
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Turin
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.est.unito.it/
Title: Free to Die: Economic Freedoms and Influenza Mortality.
Abstract: Seasonal influenzas are annually responsible for tens of thousands of deaths worldwide, often
because of insufficient care which, in turn, may depend on orientations of economic policy. Yet,
the empirical evidence on the relations that exist between policies based on different degrees of
economic liberalism and flu mortality is still scarce. This paper contributes to filling the gap by
proposing an empirical investigation into the effects of various dimensions of liberalism, proxied
by the different components of the Fraser Index of Economic Freedom, on deaths from seasonal
influenzas in a sample of 38 OECD countries observed from 1970 to 2018. A dynamic panel
System-GMM estimator is used to alleviate endogeneity concerns. Findings show that: a) not
every component of economic freedom has an effect on flu mortality; b) more economic freedom
not always means less (or more) deaths from flu. In particular, stronger protection of property
rights and lower government consumption are associated with higher flu mortality, which is
instead lower when people and capital are freer to move. Such results give rise to policy
considerations and contribute to inform policymakers about which actions can limit the mortality
of a globally widespread disease like flu.
Length: pages 29
Creation-Date: 2022-09
File-URL: https://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2022dip/wp_10_2022.pdf
File-Format: Application/PDF
Handle: RePEc:uto:dipeco:202210