ABSTRACT
This study on Nigeria used data from 1990 to 2018, to examine the nexus between public health expenditure (PUBHE) and Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure (OOPHE), and the effects of these expenditures on poverty. Based on the literature review, the methodologies used included the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model cointegration test that found that the model was cointegrated. The short-run error correction model (ECM) was then used to investigate the effect of the regressors on poverty. The Granger causality test was also used to examine the nexus between OOPHE and PUBHE. The results showed no causal relationship between OOPHE and PUBHE. However, OOPHE, PUBHE, corruption, and economic growth had significant positive effects on poverty while human capital and quality of institutions had significant negative effects on poverty in Nigeria during the period under review. Based on the results, the study recommended increased government investments and expenditure in the health and education services in the public sector; improved monitoring and evaluation of government expenditure in the health and education sector; strengthening institutional policies to minimize corruption and providing affordable health facilities to divert households’ patronage to public health facilities and reduce their OOPHE.
