Overview 

Chapter 7 of Hughes, Kuhn, Peterson, Rothman, and Solorzano (2011) elaborated the forward linkages of the health model to other parts of the IFs system at the time of that volume's completion.  It begins by discussing a controversy in the literature about whether the effects on economic well-being (as indicated by GDP per capita) of improvements in life expectancy are positive or negative.  It goes on to devote much attention to three major and general pathways of impact between health and GDP, each of which corresponds to an element in standard production functions and that in IFs.  The diagram below shows the major pathways between health/demography and GDP, each of which requires elaboration by showing the variables and logic of the IFs system; those three are labor, capital, and multifactor productivity.

There are other potential forward linkages of health in the IFs system, many of which would have additional implications for economic production. Those other possible forward linkages include linkages of health (or lack of it) to public spending on health and to education years and quality of it. Potentially there could also be a linkage in the system from health to economic inequality.

• Forward Linkages of Health to Population and Labor Supply
• Forward Linkages of Health to Capital Stock
• Forward Linkages of Health to Economic Productivity