Determinants of health-seeking behaviour in Pakistan

Abstract

The socioeconomic factors influence health demand decisions at the individual level which is a prerequisite for policymaking. A valuable starting point for assessing the health demand policies is examining how health is produced, demanded, and treated. Most of the empirical literature on Pakistan ignores the determinants of health-seeking behavior of an individual and does not contribute in terms of guiding policy intervention. Thus, this study utilizes the healthcare concept proposed by Grossman to empirically estimate the demand determinants for health in Pakistan. We intend to check the practical relevance of the Grossman model. Consumption and investment model of health demand is estimated on PSLM/HIES 2018-19 data using Logistic regression. The theoretical model infers that health is a durable stock that increases with investment and depreciates with time and our findings are consistent with the theoretical prediction of the health demand model in terms of investment and consumption.