Health and the Political Agency of Women

Sonia Bhalotra and Irma Clots-Figueras

No 6216, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigate whether politician gender influences policy outcomes in India. We focus upon antenatal and postnatal public health provision since the costs of poor services in this domain are disproportionately borne by women. Accounting for potential endogeneity of politician gender and the sample composition of births, we find that a one standard deviation increase in women's political representation results in a 1.5 percentage point reduction in neonatal mortality. Women politicians are more likely to build public health facilities and encourage antenatal care, institutional delivery and immunization. The results are topical given that a bill proposing quotas for women in state assemblies is currently pending in the Indian Parliament.

Keywords: political identity; gender; mortality; health; social preferences; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 I18 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2011-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-hea, nep-hme and nep-pol
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Published - published in: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2014, 6 (2), 164-97

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Related works:
Journal Article: Health and the Political Agency of Women (2014)
Working Paper: Health and the Political Agency of Women (2013)
Working Paper: Health and the Political Agency of Women (2011)
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