The influence of the healthcare system on optimal economic growth

This paper analyzes the impact of health system in the economic growth, based upon three macroeconomic models. The first one considers the economy with only one sector, but with morbidity; in the others the economy is divided in two sectors, the productive sector and the health sector, considering it intensive in labor and after intensive in capital. The results show that the presence of the health system increases the life expectancy and the aggregate product, but does not modify the per capita product. •Healthcare sector increases life expectancy and society's well-being.•Product aggregated is greater when there is a healthcare sector.•Economy with morbidity, it is similar to models with exhaustible resources.•The models presented here show that Malthus was wrong.•Healthcare sector does not change the growth rate of the per capita consumption.