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The urban-rural gap in healthcare infrastructure: does government ideology matter?

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  • Potrafke, Niklas
  • Roesel, Felix

Abstract

Spatial inequalities in publicly provided goods such as healthcare facilities have substantial socioeconomic effects. Little is known, however, about why publicly provided goods diverge among urban and rural regions. This study exploits narrow parliamentary majorities in German states between 1950 and 2014 in a regression discontinuity (RD) framework to show that government ideology influences the urban-rural gap in public infrastructure. Left-wing governments relocate hospital beds from rural regions. It is proposed that left-wing governments do so to gratify their more urban constituencies. In turn, spatial inequalities in hospital infrastructure increase, which seems to influence general and infant mortality.

Suggested Citation

  • Potrafke, Niklas & Roesel, Felix, 2019. "The urban-rural gap in healthcare infrastructure: does government ideology matter?," Munich Reprints in Economics 78254, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenar:78254
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    1. Felix Rösel, 2019. "Krankenhäuser auf dem Land: Bürger sind gegen längere Wege," ifo Dresden berichtet, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 26(05), pages 16-19, October.
    2. Niklas Potrafke, 2020. "Dragnet-Controls and Government Ideology," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 485-501, July.
    3. Daizhong Tang & Mengyuan Mao & Jiangang Shi & Wenwen Hua, 2021. "The Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urban-Rural Coordinated Development and Its Driving Forces in Yangtze River Delta," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    4. Björn Kauder & Manuela Krause & Niklas Potrafke, 2021. "Do Left-wing Governments Decrease Wage Inequality among Civil Servants? Empirical Evidence from the German States," Public Finance Review, , vol. 49(1), pages 106-135, January.
    5. Alexander Maas & Liang Lu, 2021. "Elections have Consequences: Partisan Politics may be Literally Killing Us," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 45-56, January.
    6. Mona Foertsch & Felix Roesel, 2023. "Public Infrastructure and Regional Resilience: Evidence from the 1918 Spanish Flu in Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 10705, CESifo.
    7. Manuela Krause & Niklas Potrafke, 2020. "The Real Estate Transfer Tax and Government Ideology: Evidence from the German States," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 76(1), pages 100-120.
    8. Maas, Alexander S. & Lu, Liang, 2020. "“Elections have Consequences”: Partisan Politics are Literally Killing Us," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304457, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Thies Büttner & Luisa Dörr & Stefanie Gäbler & Björn Kauder & Manuela Krause & Niklas Potrafke, 2019. "Überprüfung der Einwohnergewichtung im System des kommunalen Finanzausgleichs in Nordrhein-Westfalen," ifo Forschungsberichte, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 105, September.
    10. Juliane Sormain & Michael Ryan, 2023. "Regional healthcare infrastructure disparities and foreign direct investment into Europe," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 49-61.
    11. Mona Förtsch & Felix Rösel, 2020. "Hotspots überall: Corona wandert in die Fläche," ifo Dresden berichtet, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 27(05), pages 07-09, September.
    12. Doriani Lingga & Damiana Simanjuntak, 2022. "Location Choice of a Partially–Private Monopoly Supplier," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 10(1), pages 106-121, June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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