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Effect of Political Decentralization and Female Leadership on Institutional Births and Child Mortality in Rural Bihar, India

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  • Kumar, Santosh

    (University of Notre Dame)

  • Prakash, Nishith

    (Northeastern University)

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the impacts of political decentralization and women reservation in local governance on institutional births and child mortality in the state of Bihar, India. Using the difference-in-differences methodology, we find a significant positive association between political decentralization and institutional births. We also find that the increased participation of women at local governance led to an increased survival rate of children belonging to richer households. We argue that our results are consistent with female leaders having policy preference for women and child well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumar, Santosh & Prakash, Nishith, 2017. "Effect of Political Decentralization and Female Leadership on Institutional Births and Child Mortality in Rural Bihar, India," IZA Discussion Papers 10780, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10780
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    Cited by:

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    2. Pushkar Maitra & Ananta Neelim, 2024. "Discrimination in Developing Countries," Monash Economics Working Papers 2024-03, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    3. Sofia Amaral & Sonia Bhalotra & Nishith Prakash, 2019. "Gender, Crime and Punishment: Evidence from Women Police Stations in India," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-309, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    4. Ekbrand, Hans & Halleröd, Björn, 2018. "The more gender equity, the less child poverty? A multilevel analysis of malnutrition and health deprivation in 49 low- and middle-income countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 221-230.
    5. Yselle Flora Kuete Malah, 2021. "Is happiness in the hands of women?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 573-587.
    6. Bosancianu, Constantin Manuel & Dionne, Kim Yi & Hilbig, Hanno & Humphreys, Macartan & KC, Sampada & Lieber, Nils & Scacco, Alex, 2020. "Political and Social Correlates of Covid-19 Mortality," SocArXiv ub3zd, Center for Open Science.
    7. Bharti Nandwani & cjain@3ieimpact.org, 2022. "Female representation in school management and school quality," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2022-002, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    8. Maitra, Pushkar & Rosenblum, Daniel, 2022. "Upstream effects of female political reservations," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    child; institutional delivery; political decentralization; gender quota; mortality; Bihar; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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