The impact of politics on health

Published 4 April 2007

Vicente Navarro Director del Programa en Políticas Públicas y Sociales, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, España. Profesor del Departamento Políticas Públicas de Salud, Escuela de Salud Pública, Johns Hopkins University, EE.UU. , Carme Borrell Directora del Observatorio de Salud Pública de Barcelona, España. , Carles Muntaner Profesor del Instituto de Salud y Trabajo, Facultad de Medicina, University of Toronto, Canadá. , Joan Benach Profesor de Salud Pública y Salud Laboral, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, España. , Agueda Quiroga Coordinadora Académica del Programa en Políticas Públicas y Sociales, Departamento de Ciencias Políticas, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, España. , Maica Rodríguez-Sanz Investigadora, Agencia de Salud Pública de Barcelona, España. , Jordi Gumà Investigador, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, España. , Núria Vergés Investigadora de la Universidad Pompeu Fabra, España.

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Keywords:

Politics, Infant Mortality, Life Expectancy at Birth, Job Market, Social Inequity

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Abstract

The objective of this article is to report on the findings of a study that analysed the impact of politics on infant mortality and life expectancy in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development from 1950 to 1998.
Countries were grouped by political tradition based on the parties that governed in these countries from 1950 to 1998. Infant mortality and life expectancy at birth were the dependent variables. Independent variables were grouped on political power, labour market, welfare state and income inequalities. It is presented a descriptive analysis of all variables by political tradition and also Pearson correlation coefficients between variables in different periods.
The main conclusion of the study is that the duration of pro-redistributive governments is related with the reduction of income inequalities and infant mortality.