Effect of Political Decentralization and Female Leadership on Institutional Births and Child Mortality in Rural Bihar, India

Santosh Gautam and Nishith Prakash

No 10780, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the impacts of political decentralization and women reservation in local governance on institutional births and child mortality in the state of Bihar, India. Using the difference-in-differences methodology, we find a significant positive association between political decentralization and institutional births. We also find that the increased participation of women at local governance led to an increased survival rate of children belonging to richer households. We argue that our results are consistent with female leaders having policy preference for women and child well-being.

Keywords: child; institutional delivery; political decentralization; gender quota; mortality; Bihar; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 I15 J16 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2017-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-hea and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Published - published in: Social Science & Medicine, 2017, 185, 171-178

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Related works:
Journal Article: Effect of political decentralization and female leadership on institutional births and child mortality in rural Bihar, India (2017)
Working Paper: Effect of Political Decentralization and Female Leadership on Institutional Births and Child Mortality in Rural Bihar, India (2017)
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