Having looked at the paper now, I definitely have a different take as to how definitive it is. My maximally contrarian take would be that it’s a non-systematic review in which many (most?) of the works reviewed are in favor of an important causal link running from health to income. I do agree that the overall macro-scale evidence is weak (which is distinct from strong evidence of a weak effect), but this is exactly why people like RCTs over national development! Causal inference at a macro scale is hard!
Having looked at the paper now, I definitely have a different take as to how definitive it is. My maximally contrarian take would be that it’s a non-systematic review in which many (most?) of the works reviewed are in favor of an important causal link running from health to income. I do agree that the overall macro-scale evidence is weak (which is distinct from strong evidence of a weak effect), but this is exactly why people like RCTs over national development! Causal inference at a macro scale is hard!
(Health and Economic Growth: Reconciling the Micro and Macro Evidence also looks like a good source that I’ll look at.)