Economic Policy, Does it Help Life Expectancy? An African Evidence on the Role of Economic Policy on Longevity

Abstract

We evaluate the factors that affect longevity in Africa, with the aim of offering an insight on how government economic policy and consumption spending affect the lives of people in developing countries. Government economic policy was found to be contributing in a negative manner to life expectancy in the countries in our sample. We also find that apathy between the civil service (the embodiment of institutions) and political office holders to be the greatest stumbling block against the success of governmental economic policy, this creates a hole in institutions since they remain the pipe through which revenue is disbursed and policies are implemented for the general good of the populace. After interacting institution with economic policy we find that economic policy has significant effect on life expectancy it was likely that institutions were either circumvented or ignored, leading to possible short comings on the overall effect that government economic policy would have had on life expectancy.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n4p445