Economic and other determinants of infant and child mortality in small developing countries: the case of Central America and the Caribbean

Social Spending, Human Capital, and Growth in Developing Countries: Implications for Achieving the Mdgs

“…3 They also find that education spending has a greater effect on social indicators than health outlays. The positive effect of social spending on social indicators is also supported by Anand and Ravallion (1993), Psacharopoulos (1994), Hojman (1996), Bidani and Ravallion (1997), and Psacharopoulos and Patrinos (2002). At the same time, a number of studies have found insignificant or very weak linkages between public education outlays and education indicators (Noss (1991), Mingat and Tan (1992), and Flug, Spilimbergo, and Wachtenheim (1998).…”

IMF Lending and Poverty in Developing Countries

“…Anwar (1996) also finds a further accentuation of poverty in Pakistan due to the IMF presence, during the 1987-1988 and 1990-1991 periods. Among the 'pro-IMF' authors of the infant mortality literature, Hojman (1996) finds a negative impact of external debt on IMR-i.e., lower infant mortality rates-for a crosssection sample of 22 Central American and Caribbean countries in 1992. Noorbakhsh and Noorbakhsh (2006) find a statistically significant drop in infant mortality for all of the groups of recipient countries they examine independently of whether they are 'good' or 'bad' compliers.…”

“…As to the relevant literature, it is also characterized by two diametrically opposed strands. In the 'pro-IMF' strand, Hojman(1996) suggests that small doses of political will of the local governments is all that is needed so that the existing-not additional-economic resources are redirected towards the reduction of the high infant mortality rates in the poor Third World countries. More abundant seems to be the anti-IMF strand.…”

Social Spending and Aggregate Welfare in Developing and Transition Economies

“…One strand of the literature …nds evidence that health spending improves health outcomes. For instance, Anand and Ravallion (1993) and Hojman (1996) show that public spending on health has a signi…cant impact on health status. This has been corroborated by Bidani and Ravallion (1997), who show that health expenditures have a signi…cantly positive impact on the poor.…”