The Impact of Smart and Non-smart Sanctions on Government Health Expenditures: Evidence from Developing Resource-based Countries

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Faculty of Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran; School of Economics, Finance, and Accounting, Coventry University, Coventry, UK.

2 Faculty of Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/ier.2024.367041.1007830

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the impact of economic sanctions on government health expenditures in developing resource export based countries, using the dynamic panel data method (Generalized Method of Moments (GMM)) over the period from 2000 to 2016. The results show that while the impact of non smart sanctions on domestic general government health expenditure (% of GDP), domestic general government health expenditure (% general government expenditure), and domestic general government health expenditure per capita is negative and statistically significant, the impact of smart sanctions on them is positive and statistically significant. These findings are evidence of widespread human rights violations by non-smart sanctions and their adverse effects on health among the innocent citizens. Moreover, the results confirm that smart sanctions are humane considering their positive impact on health expenditures. These results remain robust to different specifications of health expenditures and alternative definitions of weights of smart and non-smart sanctions.

Keywords

Main Subjects