Elsevier

World Development

Volume 26, Issue 4, April 1998, Pages 659-672
World Development

Special section
Financing human development: Some lessons from advanced Asian countries

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(98)00004-7Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper brings together the main conclusions of a study which has analyzed public expenditure policies pursued by today's advanced Asian economies (AAE) and their policies for financing the provision of education and health services during the high-growth phase. The AAEs combined prudent low-deficit fiscal policies with large allocations for social services. This was combined with efficient public resource allocation within the social sectors for basic education and health services, and reliance on the private sector for higher levels of education and expensive curative health-care. AAE experiences with health insurance also hold useful lessons for today's developing countries.

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  • Cited by (0)

    The author would like to thank V. V. Desai, J. M. Dowling, P. Gertler, F. Harrigan, A. Mingat, M. G. Rao and Amartya Sen for helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper and Aludia Pardo, James Villafuerte, and Gina Umali for statistical assistance in the preparation of this paper. The views expressed in this paper are the personal views of the author and these are not necessarily shared by the Asian Development Bank.

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