The effects of term limits and yardstick competition on local government provision of health insurance and other public services: The Philippine case

Joseph Capuno, Stella Luz Quimbo (), Aleli Kraft () and Carlos Antonio Tan, Jr.
Additional contact information
Carlos Antonio Tan, Jr.: School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman

No 201201, UP School of Economics Discussion Papers from University of the Philippines School of Economics

Abstract: We investigate the effects of two accountability measures on the decisions of the local governments under decentralization. Using a panel of Philippine municipalities and cities in three election years, we find that term limits have negative but weak effects on the provision of health insurance coverage to poor families and on expenditures on local services. However, yardstick competition (i.e., more subsidized insurance coverage for the poor in neighboring local governments) induces them to cover more poor families, but also reduce other public expenditures. To respond to critiques of health decentralization, our results suggest that the objectives of local politicians can be aligned with those of the health sector. The key insight is the incumbent may extend health insurance coverage like a redistributive transfer to pursue reelection objectives. However, the resulting trade off between subsidized insurance coverage and other public services must be considered.

Keywords: Local governments; term limits; yardstick competition; health insurance; poor; Philippines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H4 H72 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2012-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-ias
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. DP 2012-01, January 2012

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.econ.upd.edu.ph/dp/index.php/dp/article/view/684 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:phs:dpaper:201201

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in UP School of Economics Discussion Papers from University of the Philippines School of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by RT Campos ().