Do political factors influence public health expenditures? Evidence pre- and post-great recession

Neo-Liberalism, Austerity and the Political Determinants of Health

“…The recognition of the political nature of health and an appreciation of the political determinants of health are absolutely key to better understanding ill health and health inequality, as well as our shared responsibility to ensure the conditions under which people can enjoy health and health equity. There is a pressing need to build on the body of work that helps us understand and illustrate the importance of political activity and public policy as a determinant of health [1,3,13,20,21,28,29]. Not only can it help us explain the different ways in which political power and ideology influence health and health equity, it reminds us of the need to justify the values and concepts that underpin them.…”

How time horizons of autocrats impact health expenditure: a mixed methods research

“…the time horizons of autocrats). Second, while scholars of political economy emphasise the importance of institutional characteristics in explaining government expenditure on health [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], there is lack of comparative work on how the autocrat's time horizon influences health expenditure. Third, this research extends the unit of analysis to non-democratic regimes, beyond the scope of existing work that has been limited to OECD countries [7,9,10] or specific regions [5,6,8].…”

“…A country's expenditure on healthcare can significantly improve the health of its population [1,2]. Recent research has examined the determinants of health expenditure from the perspective of political economy; discussing themes such as political regime types and transitions [3,4], post-socialist restructuring of health funding and management patterns [5,6], the ideology of governing parties and political competition [7,8], fiscal decentralisation, [9,10], and the representation of women in politics [11,12]. However, no comparative study has examined how the threat perceived by leaders influences health expenditure and cross-national analyses of authoritarian regimes.…”

Influência dos Ciclos Políticos nos Gastos Públicos e seu efeito sobre a Dívida Pública

“…Ao passo que constataram fracas e limitadas influências de ciclos partidários, ressaltaram a forte evidência de oportunismo político em níveis agregados e desagregados de despesas como educação, assistência social e alguns subcomponentes de gastos em saúde, itens que tendem a gerar resultados mais visíveis para os eleitores. Bellido et al (2019) analisaram se a ideologia do governo e outros fatores políticos e eleitorais influenciam o nível de gastos públicos em saúde nos países da (OECD), enfocando o impacto da Grande Recessão. Os resultados revelam a existência de efeitos partidários, sendo que os governos de esquerda tendem a aumentar os gastos em saúde.…”

“…Os gastos que se mostraram mais relacionados ao comportamento oportunista foram educação, assistência social e alguns subcomponentes do gasto em saúde, itens que tendem a gerar resultados mais visíveis para os eleitores. Bellido et al (2019) analisaram se a ideologia do governo e outros fatores políticos e eleitorais influenciam o nível de gastos públicos em saúde nos países que compõem a Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Os resultados revelam a presença do efeito partidário, sendo os governos de esquerda mais propensos a aumentar os gastos públicos no setor saúde.…”