The impact of regime-type on health: does redistribution explain everything?

Date
2011-09-22
Authors
Wigley, S.
Akkoyunlu Wigley, A.
Advisor
Instructor
Source Title
World Politics
Print ISSN
0043-8871
Electronic ISSN
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Volume
63
Issue
4
Pages
647 - 677
Language
English
Type
Article
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract

Many scholars claim that democracy improves population health. The prevailing explanation for this is that democratic regimes distribute health-promoting resources more widely than autocratic regimes. The central contention of this article is that democracies also have a significant pro-health effect regardless of public redistributive policies. After establishing the theoretical plausibility of the nondistributive effect, a panel of 153 countries for the years 1972 to 2000 is used to examine the relationship between extent of democratic experience and life expectancy. The authors find that democratic governance continues to have a salutary effect on population health even when controls are introduced for the distribution of health-enhancing resources. Data for fifty autocratic countries for the years 1994 to 2007 are then used to examine whether media freedom-independent of government responsiveness-has a positive impact on life expectancy.

Course
Other identifiers
Book Title
Keywords
Democracy, Health Impact, Public Health, Economics, Education, Ethnic And Racial Groups, Ethnology, Health Care Policy, Health Promotion, History, Human, Legal Aspect, Life Expectancy, Political System, Psychological Aspect, Public Health, Democracy, Health Policy, Health Promotion, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, Humans, Life Expectancy, Political Systems, Population Groups, Public Health
Citation
Published Version (Please cite this version)