Innovation's Impact on County-Level Population Health

This dissertation investigates the importance of innovative economic activity and its impact on health outcomes at the county level. The influence of patent assignment activity per county in the United States from 2010 - 2014 on all-cause and specific type mortality rates per 100,000 per county was analyzed. Previous studies have only looked at this relationship at a national or regional level. Here innovation is found to have a statistically significant impact on affecting mortality rates at the county level. This study also suggests that the impact innovation has on mortality rates differs depending on the type of mortality and maintains significance when controlling for medical specific innovation versus non-medical innovative activity. Additionally, evidence shows that the timing effect of innovation is strongest within the year of assignment when impacting mortality rates at the county level, suggesting that the effects of that innovation’s assignment has the strongest impact on the health of the community within the assignment year. Further, results suggest that the innovation of neighboring counties has positive implications for their own population as well as the surrounding counties population by decreasing mortality rates for both that county and counties bound by geographic contiguity. These results highlight important policy implications toward health production and provide a path forward for continued research into health production theory as well as the use of empirical methods to be used to evaluate economic policy and its benefit to population health. Given these results, county officials can better make economic policy decisions based on the positive impact innovation plays in growing local economies while also understanding the role economic innovation plays in impacting their constituencies stock of health.

Grantor dc:publisher

Creighton University

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Baldetti, Nicholas

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Briggs, Kristie N.

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is retained by the Author. A non-exclusive distribution right is granted to Creighton University and to ProQuest following the publishing model selected above.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/123337

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:cdr.creighton.edu:10504/123337