Costa Font, Joan
Does exposure to democracy decrease health inequality? / Joan Costa-Font and Niklas Knust
Resumen
Bibliografía.
Exposure to (a liberal) democracy can have an impact on both the political attention and visibility of the needs of marginalized populations, as well as the design of health policies that can influence the distribution of population health. This paper investigates the effect of exposure to democracy, that is, the number of years spent in a democracy as measured by democracy indexes, on various measures of inequality in self-reported health across European countries. We use an instrumental variable strategy to leverage the potential endogeneity of a country’s exposure to democracy, drawing on both bivariate (socioeconomic) and univariate health inequality measures. Our estimates provide evidence that an additional year in a democracy reduces both bivariate (income-related) health inequality and overall (univariate) health inequality. Our preferred specification suggests a two-point rank reduction in inequality with an additional year under a democracy. The effect is mainly driven by a reduction of “health poverty” alongside other effects.
DEMOCRACIA
POLITICA SANITARIA
ASISTENCIA SANITARIA
DESIGUALDAD
Knust, Niklas
Journal of Public Policy 0143-814X v. 43, issue 4, December 2023, p. 741-760
Does exposure to democracy decrease health inequality? / Joan Costa-Font and Niklas Knust
Resumen
Bibliografía.
Exposure to (a liberal) democracy can have an impact on both the political attention and visibility of the needs of marginalized populations, as well as the design of health policies that can influence the distribution of population health. This paper investigates the effect of exposure to democracy, that is, the number of years spent in a democracy as measured by democracy indexes, on various measures of inequality in self-reported health across European countries. We use an instrumental variable strategy to leverage the potential endogeneity of a country’s exposure to democracy, drawing on both bivariate (socioeconomic) and univariate health inequality measures. Our estimates provide evidence that an additional year in a democracy reduces both bivariate (income-related) health inequality and overall (univariate) health inequality. Our preferred specification suggests a two-point rank reduction in inequality with an additional year under a democracy. The effect is mainly driven by a reduction of “health poverty” alongside other effects.
DEMOCRACIA
POLITICA SANITARIA
ASISTENCIA SANITARIA
DESIGUALDAD
Knust, Niklas
Journal of Public Policy 0143-814X v. 43, issue 4, December 2023, p. 741-760