The Missing Link: Are Individuals with More Social Capital in Better Health? Evidence from Low-Income Countries

This paper offers a new model to critically examine associations between human capital,
social capital, and health outcomes within the context of a two-period Overlapping
Generations (OLG) model of endogenous growth model. Basically, individuals with
higher level of human capital can build strong social ties, and those individuals who have
more robust social networks are less likely to have health problems and are physically
healthier. In an attempt to gain a better understanding of broader policy implications, a
numerical analysis for low-income countries has been utilised and a sensitivity analysis
under a different set of parameter values has been employed in the paper. We provide a
comparison of three main experiments: an increase in the share of public spending on
education, social capital-related activities, and health. The results confirm the
association between education, social capital, and health outcomes, and its favourable
effect on long-run growth in low-income countries.