 Competition to Save Lives: Political competition and health outcomes in IndiaSandip Datta () Oxford Development Studies, 2019, vol. 47, issue 4, 391-405 Abstract: The literature argues that intense political competition may resultin a nation’s potential for increased welfare. We theoretically andempirically examine this proposition by linking political competitionto health outcomes in the Indian context. Theoretical analysissuggests that political competitiveness increases the probabilityof having better health outcomes. This analysis also identifiesthat rural areas benefit from more from political competition thanurban areas. In India, the majority of the population (around 70%)resides in rural areas and, therefore, the diversity of ex-ante viewsabout political parties is higher in rural areas compared to urbanareas. In such situations, as competition intensifies, the governmentallocates greater amounts of resources to rural areas to win theelection. Thus, as political competition increases, the probability ofhaving better health outcomes rise in rural areas at a higher rate ascompared to urban areas. Our empirical analysis also exhibits the same. Date: 2019 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:47:y:2019:i:4:p:391-405 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2019.1645823 Access Statistics for this article Oxford Development Studies is currently edited by Jo Boyce and Frances Stewart More articles in Oxford Development Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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