Political Economy of Infant Mortality Rate: Role of Democracy Versus Good Governance

Despite numerous studies on whether democracy reduces the infant mortality rate (IMR), the empirical results remain mixed at best. In this article, I perform several theoretical and empirical exercises that help explain why and under what conditions we should expect politics to matter most for a dec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of health services 2018-07, Vol.48 (3), p.435-460
Main Author: Rosenberg, Dina Y.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Democracy
Global Health - statistics & numerical data
Government
Humans
II. The Political Determinants of Health
Infant
Infant Mortality
Infant, Newborn
Politics
Public Health Administration - legislation & jurisprudence
Social Change
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Summary:Despite numerous studies on whether democracy reduces the infant mortality rate (IMR), the empirical results remain mixed at best. In this article, I perform several theoretical and empirical exercises that help explain why and under what conditions we should expect politics to matter most for a decrease in IMR. First, I capitalize on the epidemiological view that IMR–the most commonly used indicator of health in social sciences–is better suited to reflect public health micromanagement than overall social development. Second, I theorize that autocrats have incentives to invest in health up to a certain point, which could lead to a reduction in IMR. Third, I introduce an omitted variable–good governance–that trumps the importance of a political regime for IMR: (1) it directly affects public health micromanagement, and (2) many autocrats made inroads in achieving good governance. Finally, for the first time in such research, I use a disaggregated IMR approach to corroborate my hypotheses.
ISSN:0020-7314
1541-4469
DOI:10.1177/0020731418774226