Browsing by Author "Veenstra, G."

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Politics and population health: testing the impact of electoral democracy
    (2016) Patterson, Andrew; Veenstra, G.
    This study addresses questions of whether and why electoral democracies have better health than other nations. After devising a replicable approach to missing data, we compare political, economic, and health-related data for 168 nations collected annually from 1960 through 2010. Regression models estimate that electoral democracies have 11 years of longer life expectancy on average and 62.5% lower rates of infant mortality. The association with life expectancy reduces markedly after controlling for GDP, while a combination of factors may explain the democratic advantage in infant health. Results suggest that income inequality associates independently with both health outcomes but does not mediate their associations with democracy.