Finally, there are other important spillover benefits to investment in one’s
health or education. An educated person provides benefits to people around
him or her, such as reading for them or coming up with innovations that benefit
the community.16 As a result, there are significant market failures in education.
Moreover, a healthy person is not only less contagious but can also benefit
the community in many ways that a sick person cannot. Because of such
spillover effects, the market cannot be counted on to deliver the socially efficient
levels of health and education. Thus, as the World Health Organization
(WHO) concluded, “Ultimate responsibility for the performance of a country’s
health system lies with government.”17 Developing-country officials are drawing
lessons from the many studies showing the interrelationships among
health, education, and incomes and are devising integrated strategies. The case
study of Mexico at the end of this chapter provides an important example.