IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecosys/v42y2018i2p307-319.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health and political regimes: Evidence from quantile regression

Author

Listed:
  • Okada, Keisuke

Abstract

This study investigates how political regimes affect health conditions such as infant and child mortality rates and life expectancy using data from 180 countries observed between 1960 and 2013. Panel quantile regression is used to examine the effects at different intervals throughout the distribution of health outcomes. The estimation results indicate that democracy has significant positive effects on health outcomes and that its impacts are greater when health outcomes are worse. These results are robust to different democracy and health indices. The effects of different types of democracies and dictatorships are also considered, that is parliamentary, mixed (semi-presidential) and presidential democracies, and civilian, military and royal dictatorships. The parliamentary form of democracy has the largest positive impact on health outcomes at the worst quantile of health outcomes, although the difference in the impacts of the three types of democracies is not necessarily large. Furthermore, all types of dictatorships have a negative impact on health outcomes, with military dictatorship having the worst outcome when health outcomes are worse. Finally, the effects of democratization on health outcomes are significantly positive when the health outcomes are worse.

Suggested Citation

  • Okada, Keisuke, 2018. "Health and political regimes: Evidence from quantile regression," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 307-319.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:42:y:2018:i:2:p:307-319
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2017.06.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939362518301389
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecosys.2017.06.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Ross, 2006. "Is Democracy Good for the Poor?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(4), pages 860-874, October.
    2. Elias Papaioannou & Gregorios Siourounis, 2008. "Democratisation and Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(532), pages 1520-1551, October.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Suresh Naidu & Pascual Restrepo & James A. Robinson, 2019. "Democracy Does Cause Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(1), pages 47-100.
    4. Kotera, Go & Okada, Keisuke, 2017. "How does democratization affect the composition of government expenditure?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 145-159.
    5. Papaioannou, Elias & Siourounis, Gregorios, 2008. "Economic and social factors driving the third wave of democratization," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 365-387, September.
    6. Koenker, Roger, 2004. "Quantile regression for longitudinal data," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 74-89, October.
    7. World Bank, 2015. "World Development Indicators 2015," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 21634, December.
    8. Sen, Amartya, 1998. "Mortality as an Indicator of Economic Success and Failure," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(446), pages 1-25, January.
    9. Therése Pettersson & Peter Wallensteen, 2015. "Armed conflicts, 1946–2014," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 52(4), pages 536-550, July.
    10. Rajkumar, Andrew Sunil & Swaroop, Vinaya, 2008. "Public spending and outcomes: Does governance matter?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 96-111, April.
    11. Acemoglu,Daron & Robinson,James A., 2009. "Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521671422.
    12. Kotera, Go & Mizuno, Nobuhiro & Okada, Keisuke & Samreth, Sovannroeun, 2015. "Ethnic diversity, democracy, and health: Theory and evidence," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 353-376.
    13. José Cheibub & Jennifer Gandhi & James Vreeland, 2010. "Democracy and dictatorship revisited," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 67-101, April.
    14. Klomp, Jeroen & de Haan, Jakob, 2009. "Is the political system really related to health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 36-46, July.
    15. Masayuki Kudamatsu, 2012. "Has Democratization Reduced Infant Mortality In Sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence From Micro Data," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(6), pages 1294-1317, December.
    16. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    17. Toke Aidt & Peter Jensen, 2013. "Democratization and the size of government: evidence from the long 19th century," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 511-542, December.
    18. Ansell,Ben W. & Samuels,David J., 2014. "Inequality and Democratization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107000360.
    19. Nils Petter Gleditsch & Peter Wallensteen & Mikael Eriksson & Margareta Sollenberg & Hã…Vard Strand, 2002. "Armed Conflict 1946-2001: A New Dataset," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 39(5), pages 615-637, September.
    20. Profeta, Paola & Puglisi, Riccardo & Scabrosetti, Simona, 2013. "Does democracy affect taxation and government spending? Evidence from developing countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 684-718.
    21. Przeworski,Adam & Alvarez,Michael E. & Cheibub,Jose Antonio & Limongi,Fernando, 2000. "Democracy and Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521793797.
    22. Meltzer, Allan H & Richard, Scott F, 1981. "A Rational Theory of the Size of Government," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 914-927, October.
    23. Timothy Besley & Masayuki Kudamatsu, 2006. "Health and Democracy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 313-318, May.
    24. Simon Wigley & Arzu Akkoyunlu-Wigley, 2011. "Do electoral institutions have an impact on population health?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 595-610, September.
    25. Przeworski,Adam & Alvarez,Michael E. & Cheibub,Jose Antonio & Limongi,Fernando, 2000. "Democracy and Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521790321.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter A.G. van Bergeijk, 2021. "Pandemic Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 20401.
    2. Idrissa Ouedraogo & Issa Dianda & Iyewumi Titilope Adeyele, 2020. "Institutional Quality and Health Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa," Research in Applied Economics, Macrothink Institute, vol. 12(4), pages 22-45, December.
    3. Okada, Keisuke & Samreth, Sovannroeun, 2020. "Do political regimes matter for technology diffusion?," MPRA Paper 103728, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kammas, Pantelis & Sarantides, Vassilis, 2019. "Do dictatorships redistribute more?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 176-195.
    2. Alberto Batinti & Joan Costa‐Font & Timothy J. Hatton, 2022. "Voting Up? The Effects of Democracy and Franchise Extension on Human Stature," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 161-190, January.
    3. Kotera, Go & Okada, Keisuke, 2017. "How does democratization affect the composition of government expenditure?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 145-159.
    4. Johannes Blum & Florian Dorn & Axel Heuer, 2021. "Political institutions and health expenditure," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(2), pages 323-363, April.
    5. Ramos, Antonio P. & Flores, Martin J. & Ross, Michael L., 2020. "Where has democracy helped the poor? Democratic transitions and early-life mortality at the country level," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    6. Daron Acemoglu & Suresh Naidu & Pascual Restrepo & James A. Robinson, 2019. "Democracy Does Cause Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(1), pages 47-100.
    7. Welander, Anna & Lyttkens, Carl Hampus & Nilsson, Therese, 2015. "Globalization, democracy, and child health in developing countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 52-63.
    8. Kotera, Go & Okada, Keisuke, 2015. "How Does Democratization Affect the Composition of Government Expenditure?," MPRA Paper 67085, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Dorsch, Michael T. & Maarek, Paul, 2019. "Democratization and the Conditional Dynamics of Income Distribution," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 113(2), pages 385-404, May.
    10. Laura Policardo & Edgar J. Sanchez Carrera, 2020. "Can income inequality promote democratization?," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(3), pages 510-532, July.
    11. Annaka, Susumu & Higashijima, Masaaki, 2021. "Political liberalization and human development: Dynamic effects of political regime change on infant mortality across three centuries (1800-2015)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    12. Bahamonde, Hector & Trasberg, Mart, 2021. "Inclusive institutions, unequal outcomes: Democracy, state capacity, and income inequality," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Antoine Marsaudon & Josselin Thuilliez, 2016. "Does democracy reduce the HIV epidemic? Evidence from Kenya," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01400833, HAL.
    14. Susumu Annaka & Masaaki Higashijima, 2017. "Democratization and Human Development," Working Papers 1712, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    15. Sunde, Uwe & Fortunato, Piergiuseppe & Cervellati, Matteo, 2011. "Democratization and Civil Liberties: The Role of Violence During the Transition," CEPR Discussion Papers 8315, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Timothy Besley & Masayuki Kudamatsu, 2007. "Making Autocracy Work," STICERD - Development Economics Papers - From 2008 this series has been superseded by Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers 48, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    17. Ọláyínká Oyèkọ́lá, 2023. "Democracy Does Improve Health," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 105-132, February.
    18. Lidia Ceriani & Simona Scabrosetti & Francesco Scervini, 2022. "Inequality, Privatization and Democratic Institutions in Developing Countries," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 240(1), pages 95-124, March.
    19. Wong, Mathew Y.H., 2021. "Democracy, hybrid regimes, and inequality: The divergent effects of contestation and inclusiveness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    20. Kotera, Go & Mizuno, Nobuhiro & Okada, Keisuke & Samreth, Sovannroeun, 2015. "Ethnic diversity, democracy, and health: Theory and evidence," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 353-376.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Infant mortality; Life expectancy; Democracy; Dictatorship;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:42:y:2018:i:2:p:307-319. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/osteide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.