Nutrition Intake, Health Status, Education and Economic Growth: A Causality Investigation

Abstract This paper examines the causal relationship between nutrition intake, health status, education and economic growth within a six-variate VEC framework, forecast error variance decomposition and impulse response function techniques, covering the period from 1990 to 2013, using quarterly data in Nigeria. This paper includes control variables in order to eliminate variable omission bias, unlike most existing studies. The results suggest the presence of long-run, bicausal relationships between the candidate variables of the study. In addition, the short-run unidirectional causal relationships are found between main variables, including a causal relationship running from nutrition and fiscal policy to education, as well as a causal link running from education and economic growth to health status. These findings support the existing theories. The results based on the model and empirical data suggest that the government should allocate more resources to human development in order to enhance productivity and boost economic growth. Similarly, there is a need to design adequate mechanisms to ensure proper allocation of the limited resources and avoid their embezzlement by corrupt government officials.