Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/163116 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
ADBI Working Paper No. 617
Publisher: 
Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Tokyo
Abstract: 
This paper studies the impact of tax-financed universal health coverage schemes on macroeconomic aspects of labor supply, asset holding, inequality, and welfare, while taking into account features common to developing economies, such as informal employment and tax avoidance, by constructing a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents. Agents have different education levels, employment statuses, and idiosyncratic shocks. Given three tax financing options, calibration results based on the Thai economy suggest that the financing options matter for outcomes both at the aggregate and disaggregate levels. Universal health coverage, financed by labor income tax revenue, could reduce inequality due to its large redistributive role. Social welfare cannot be improved when labor decisions are endogenous and distortions are higher than the redistributive gains for all tax financing options. In the absence of labor supply choice, mild welfare gains are found. In a broader sense, the paper aims to provide a frame for policy evaluation of socioeconomic policies from both macro and micro perspectives, taking different social groups into consideration.
Subjects: 
universal health insurance
dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model
tax finance
social welfare
labor supply
JEL: 
E24
E26
E62
J11
H23
H51
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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