The trivariate causality among education, health and economic Growth in Zimbabwe (1980 – 2014).

Abstract

The study empirically investigated the causality among education, health and economic growth in Zimbabwe for the time series data spanning from 1980 to 2014. Specifically, the study’s main aim was to establish whether there is a joint (trivariate) causation tendency among education, health and economic growth in Zimbabwe. The spirit behind the trivariate causality subject is that education and health possibly interact in affecting economic growth, with feedback effects expected from improved economic growth. Of note is that the trivariate causality subject is a recent and thinly explored area in the literature given that previous studies have in most cases examined bidirectional relationships. With this in mind, the study used the Granger Causality tests in the realm of the Vector Auto Regressive (VAR) model to capture the possible causal interactions among the policy variables. The Granger causality tests results showed that education Granger causes health improvements, with the health improvements in turn fairly associating to Granger cause economic growth in Zimbabwe. Thus, the effect of education on economic growth is not direct, but works through improved health – pointing to the conclusion that health is a transmission mechanism through which education drives economic growth. No feedback effect was established from improved health to education as well as from economic growth to education and health. From a policy point of view, the results suggested the need for a holistic policy approach which integrates education and health policies in a bid to drive economic growth. This follows from the realization that education has no effect on economic growth in its own domain, but when it causally interacts with health.