کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
5046753 | 1475993 | 2017 | 7 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
- Resource curse extends beyond politics and economics to include population health.
- Increases in petroleum wealth are associated with increases in child mortality.
- The political survival of oil-rich leaders is not determined by child health.
- Oil curse is a policy challenge given the growing number of oil-producing states.
There is now an extensive literature on the adverse effect of petroleum wealth on the political, economic and social well-being of a country. In this study we examine whether the so-called resource curse extends to the health of children, as measured by under-five mortality. We argue that the type of revenue available to governments in petroleum-rich countries reduces their incentive to improve child health. Whereas the type of revenue available to governments in petroleum-poor countries encourages policies designed to improve child health. In order to test that line of argument we employ a panel of 167 countries (all countries with populations above 250,000) for the years 1961-2011. We find robust evidence that petroleum-poor countries outperform petroleum-rich countries when it comes to reducing under-five mortality. This suggests that governments in oil abundant countries often fail to effectively use the resource windfall at their disposal to improve child health.
Journal: Social Science & Medicine - Volume 176, March 2017, Pages 142-148