State capacity and the political economy of child mortality in developing countries revisited: From fiscal sociology towards the rule of law

Abstract

The capacity of the state to promote the rule of law is identified as a factor that potentially affects child mortality via causal mechanisms independent of the fiscal sociology aspect of state capacity -state size. Two potential causal mechanisms are proposed through which the rule of law may affect child mortality: by improving market efficiency and supporting civil society. As an initial test of these propositions, a crossnational time series analysis of 93 developing countries examines whether the rule of law has a beneficial effect on child mortality, independent of the size of the state and other political and economic controls. The evidence presented supports this hypothesis and suggests a strong, negative and robust effect of the rule of law on child mortality, while also suggesting that state size does not have a statistically significant effect on child mortality when controlling for the rule of law and other politico-economic variables.Keywords child mortality, development, health, fiscal sociology, rule of law, state capacity Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991. In 2005, a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) special report stated that Somalia has 'some of the worst health indicators in the world. Over one in ten children die at birth and of those that survive, a quarter will perish before their fifth birthday' (Médecins Sans Frontières, 2005). In addition to the lack of a functioning health system, the report identifies the absence of a state apparatus that can maintain law and order as a key factor affecting health. It attributes countless injuries and deaths to the lawlessness and widespread violence in the country. However, in addition to these casualties, a weak rule of law can also have a detrimental effect on health by hindering the operations of aid organizations, whose assistance is all the more important in countries like Somalia. Violence and disorder can disrupt the transportation of supplies and compromise the safety of personnel. In Somalia, many aid organizations simply do not operate there as a result of these risks. As one of

Governance and Development Outcomes in Asia

“…Greater accountability of service providers to citizens and politicians ensures that, for example, education and health services reach the majority of the population, while lower corruption implies lower leakage of public funds to the nonpoor (World Bank 2004). Dawson (2010) finds evidence for improvements in the rule of law reducing child mortality. Rakjumar and Swaroop (2008) find that lower corruption leads to more effectiveness in service delivery.…”

Foreign aid and the rule of law: Institutional diffusion versus legal reach

“…Good governance in recipient countries has been shown to attract development aid from some donors (In'airat, 2014;Neumayer, 2003), but also to have limited influence on the aid allocation of others despite political conditionalities (Furuoka, 2005;Hout, 2002). While the rule of law is acknowledged as an important correlate of various facets of development (Acemoglu, Johnson, & Robinson, 2001;Dam, 2006;Dawson, 2010;Diamond, 2008;Fukuyama, 2011;Kaufmann, Kraay, & Zoido-Lobatón, 1999;North, 1990;Rigobon & Rodrik, 2005;Tebaldi & Mohan, 2010), efforts to strengthen the rule of law in certain countries are also undertaken with donors' national security interests in mind. This has led to the securitization of aid in recent years, with rule of law development assistance becoming a key foreign aid priority (Brown & Grävingholt, 2016;Swiss, 2011Swiss, , 2016a.…”

State Spending and Governance: A Cross‐National Analysis of Forest Loss in Developing Nations*

“…Third, rule of law refers to the ability of a state to have control over its territory through contract enforcement, the protection of property rights, and the administration of justice (Dawson ; Deacon ). Nations with high levels of rule of law support the functioning of markets, which enable nations to invest in conservation initiatives including reforestation efforts and demarcation of protected areas, which can limit forest loss (De la Croix and Delavallade ; Mohan ; Rudel and Roper ).…”