IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v111y2018icp270-287.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The enduring influence of institutions on universal health coverage: An empirical investigation of 62 former colonies

Author

Listed:
  • Miller, Michael
  • Toffolutti, Veronica
  • Reeves, Aaron

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that particular institutional arrangements partly explain the large and persistent differences in health systems and health outcomes observed in former colonies. Drawing on data from the World Health Organization for 62 countries, covering the period 2000–2014, we explore whether economic (risk of expropriation) and health (complete cause of death registries) institutions explain mortality rates and access to healthcare. To identify this relationship, we use settler mortality and the distance of the capital from the nearest major port – factors associated with institutional arrangements – to explain cross-national variation in health outcomes and the universality of health systems. We find that inclusive institutions arrangements – that protect and acknowledge the rights of citizens – are associated with better health outcomes (e.g. lower infant mortality and lower maternal mortality) as well as with better health systems (e.g. more skilled birth attendance and greater immunization). Inclusive institutions not only foster economic growth but improve health and well-being too.

Suggested Citation

  • Miller, Michael & Toffolutti, Veronica & Reeves, Aaron, 2018. "The enduring influence of institutions on universal health coverage: An empirical investigation of 62 former colonies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 270-287.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:111:y:2018:i:c:p:270-287
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.07.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X18302390
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.07.010?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. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4tc33icveb94nokk2rd2ettg0k is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Acharya, Avidit & Blackwell, Matthew & Sen, Maya, 2016. "Explaining Causal Findings Without Bias: Detecting and Assessing Direct Effects," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 110(3), pages 512-529, August.
    4. Angus Deaton, 2015. "The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10054.
    5. Lant Pritchett & Lawrence H. Summers, 1996. "Wealthier is Healthier," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(4), pages 841-868.
    6. Acharya, Avidit & Blackwell, Matthew & Sen, Maya, 2014. "The Political Legacy of American Slavery," Working Paper Series rwp14-057, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    7. Dunning, Thad, 2008. "Model Specification in Instrumental-Variables Regression," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 290-302, July.
    8. Filipe Campante & Quoc-Anh Do & Bernardo Guimaraes, 2014. "Capital Cities, Conflict, and Misgovernance: Theory and Evidence," SciencePo Working papers hal-03460226, HAL.
    9. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    10. Abhijit Banerjee & Lakshmi Iyer, 2005. "History, Institutions, and Economic Performance: The Legacy of Colonial Land Tenure Systems in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1190-1213, September.
    11. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James Robinson, 2003. "Disease and Development in Historical Perspective," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(2-3), pages 397-405, 04/05.
    12. Avendano, Mauricio & Berkman, Lisa F. & Brugiavini, Agar & Pasini, Giacomo, 2015. "The long-run effect of maternity leave benefits on mental health: Evidence from European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 45-53.
    13. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2014. "Under the Thumb of History? Political Institutions and the Scope for Action," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 951-971, August.
    14. Reeves, Aaron & McKee, Martin & Basu, Sanjay & Stuckler, David, 2014. "The political economy of austerity and healthcare: Cross-national analysis of expenditure changes in 27 European nations 1995–2011," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 1-8.
    15. Krieger, N. & Chen, J.T. & Coull, B. & Waterman, P.D. & Beckfield, J., 2013. "The unique impact of abolition of Jim Crow Laws on reducing inequities in infant death rates and implications for choice of comparison groups in analyzing societal determinants of health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(12), pages 2234-2244.
    16. Daron Acemoglu & Francisco A. Gallego & James A. Robinson, 2014. "Institutions, Human Capital, and Development ," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 875-912, August.
    17. Galiani, Sebastian & Schargrodsky, Ernesto, 2004. "Effects of land titling on child health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 353-372, December.
    18. Galiani, Sebastian & Schargrodsky, Ernesto, 2010. "Property rights for the poor: Effects of land titling," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(9-10), pages 700-729, October.
    19. Filipe R. Campante & Quoc-Anh Do, 2014. "Isolated Capital Cities, Accountability, and Corruption: Evidence from US States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2456-2481, August.
    20. Kentikelenis, Alexander E., 2017. "Structural adjustment and health: A conceptual framework and evidence on pathways," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 296-305.
    21. Pierson, Paul, 2000. "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(2), pages 251-267, June.
    22. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/3gffacsuvp8q9p62340u1dgcib is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Feigl, Andrea B. & Ding, Eric L., 2013. "Evidenced Formal Coverage Index and universal healthcare enactment: A prospective longitudinal study of economic, social, and political predictors of 194 countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 50-60.
    24. North, Douglass C, 1994. "Economic Performance through Time," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 359-368, June.
    25. Mackenbach, Johan P. & Hu, Yannan & Looman, Caspar W.N., 2013. "Democratization and life expectancy in Europe, 1960–2008," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 166-175.
    26. Stasavage, David, 2010. "When Distance Mattered: Geographic Scale and the Development of European Representative Assemblies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 104(4), pages 625-643, November.
    27. Filipe Campante & Quoc-Anh Do & Bernardo Guimaraes, 2014. "Capital Cities, Conflict, and Misgovernance: Theory and Evidence," Working Papers hal-03460261, HAL.
    28. Lange, Matthew K., 2004. "British Colonial Legacies and Political Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 905-922, June.
    29. Sebastian Galiani & Ernesto Schargrodsky, 2004. "The Health Effects of Land Titling," Working Papers 78, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Dec 2004.
    30. Szreter, Simon, 2007. "The Right of Registration: Development, Identity Registration, and Social Security--A Historical Perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 67-86, January.
    31. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/3gffacsuvp8q9p62340u1dgcib is not listed on IDEAS
    32. Barlow, Pepita, 2018. "Does trade liberalization reduce child mortality in low- and middle-income countries? A synthetic control analysis of 36 policy experiments, 1963-2005," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 107-115.
    33. Shandra, John M. & Nobles, Jenna & London, Bruce & Williamson, J.B.John B., 2004. "Dependency, democracy, and infant mortality: a quantitative, cross-national analysis of less developed countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 321-333, July.
    34. Baker, Peter & Hone, Thomas & Reeves, Aaron & Avendano, Mauricio & Millett, Christopher, 2018. "Does government expenditure reduce inequalities in infant mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries?: A time-series, ecological analysis of 48 countries from 1993 to 2013," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 89389, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    35. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/nhjqqngq98lnqqrct2aj93qja is not listed on IDEAS
    36. Timothy Besley & Masayuki Kudamatsu, 2006. "Health and Democracy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 313-318, May.
    37. Reeves, Aaron & Karanikolos, Marina & Mackenbach, Johan & McKee, Martin & Stuckler, David, 2014. "Do employment protection policies reduce the relative disadvantage in the labour market experienced by unhealthy people? A natural experiment created by the Great Recession in Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 98-108.
    38. Besley, Timothy, 1995. "Property Rights and Investment Incentives: Theory and Evidence from Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(5), pages 903-937, October.
    39. Quamruzzaman, Amm & Lange, Matthew, 2016. "Female political representation and child health: Evidence from a multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 48-57.
    40. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/gac8g25hn9gdbnog775lou0p2 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Del Prete, Davide & Ghins, Léopold & Magrini, Emiliano & Pauw, Karl, 2019. "Land consolidation, specialization and household diets: Evidence from Rwanda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 139-149.
    2. Reeves, Aaron & Sochas, Laura, 2022. "When do democratic transitions reduce or increase child mortality? Exploring the role of non-violent resistance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    3. Aguilar-Gomez, Sandra & Benshaul-Tolonen, Anja, 2023. "The evolution and persistence of women's roles: Evidence from the Gold Rush," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 364-381.
    4. Ghasemi, Abdolrasoul & Boroumand, Yasaman & Shirazi, Masoud, 2020. "How do governments perform in facing COVID-19?," MPRA Paper 99791, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 20 Apr 2020.
    5. Thang, Doan Ngoc & Ha, Le Thanh, 2022. "Trade credit and global value chain: Evidence from cross-country firm-level data," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 110-129.
    6. Xiaofeng Shi & Jianying Li & Fei Wang & Hasan Dinçer & Serhat Yüksel, 2019. "A Hybrid Decision-Making Approach for the Service and Financial-Based Measurement of Universal Health Coverage for the E7 Economies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-20, September.

    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. Deininger, Klaus & Goyal, Aparajita, 2012. "Going digital: Credit effects of land registry computerization in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 236-243.
    2. Subramanian, Arjunan & Kumar, Parmod, 2024. "Property rights, factor allocation and household welfare: Experimental evidence from a land titling program in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Aragón, Fernando M., 2015. "Do better property rights improve local income?: Evidence from First Nations' treaties," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 43-56.
    4. Vu, Trung V., 2020. "Economic complexity and health outcomes: A global perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    5. Richens, Peter, 2009. "The economic legacies of the ‘thin white line’: indirect rule and the comparative development of sub-Saharan Africa," Economic History Working Papers 27879, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    6. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus & Goldstein, Markus, 2014. "Environmental and gender impacts of land tenure regularization in Africa: Pilot evidence from Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 262-275.
    7. Bhattacharyya, Sambit, 2009. "Institutions, diseases, and economic progress: a unified framework," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 65-87, April.
    8. Islam, Md. Rabiul & Madsen, Jakob B. & Raschky, Paul A., 2015. "Gold and silver mining in the 16th and 17th centuries, land titles and agricultural productivity," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 150-166.
    9. Sébastien MARCHAND, 2010. "Historical and Comparative Institutional Analysis: Evidences from Deforestation," Working Papers 201016, CERDI.
    10. Deininger, Klaus & Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Alemu, Tekie, 2008. "Impacts of land certification on tenure security, investment, and land markets : evidence from Ethiopia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4764, The World Bank.
    11. Lawrence King & Osvaldo Gómez Martínez, 2010. "Property Rights Reform and Development: A Critique of the Cross-National Regression Literature," Working Papers wp216, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    12. Marchand, Sébastien, 2016. "The colonial origins of deforestation: an institutional analysis," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 318-349, June.
    13. Trung V. Vu, 2022. "Does institutional quality foster economic complexity? The fundamental drivers of productive capabilities," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1571-1604, September.
    14. Merima Ali & Odd-Helge Fjeldstad & Boqian Jiang & Abdulaziz B Shifa, 2019. "Colonial Legacy, State-building and the Salience of Ethnicity in Sub-Saharan Africa," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(619), pages 1048-1081.
    15. 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.
    16. Wietzke, Frank-Borge, 2015. "Long-Term Consequences of Colonial Institutions and Human Capital Investments: Sub-National Evidence from Madagascar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 293-307.
    17. Andres Irarrazaval, 2022. "The Fiscal Origins of Comparative Inequality levels: An Empirical and Historical Investigation," Working Papers wp531, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    18. Olsson, Ola, 2007. "On the Institutional Legacy of Mercantilist and Imperialist Colonialism," Working Papers in Economics 247, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    19. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus & Mahofa, Godfrey & Nyakulama, Rhona, 2021. "Sustaining land registration benefits by addressing the challenges of reversion to informality in Rwanda," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    20. Marina Nistotskaya & Michelle D'Arcy, 2021. "No taxation without property rights: Formalization of property rights on land and tax revenues from individuals in sub-Saharan Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-175, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Institutions; Health coverage; Instrumental variables;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • P51 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems

    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:wdevel:v:111:y:2018:i:c:p:270-287. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.