In the political debate, healthcare is often seen as a mere cost component of public spending, and to this effect, a problem for fiscal stability. But the need for staying or getting healthy is also major driver of economic activity, leading to employment, value added and tax revenue. In this project we created an economic satellite account within and compatible with the Austrian input-output tables. With our satellite account, it is possible to follow the value chain of health related goods and services and to calculate the economic effects in much greater detail than with the common input-output tables. The satellite account also yields a more concise picture of effects caused by the "need for health" as it includes health related economic activity outside the core healthcare sector.
Read more about the project (in German)