Politics and health in eight European countries: a comparative study of mortality decline under social democracies and right-wing governments

Social Science & Medicine
José A Tapia Granados

Abstract

Recent publications have argued that the welfare state is an important determinant of population health, and that social democracy in office and higher levels of health expenditure promote health progress. In the period 1950-2000, Greece, Portugal, and Spain were the poorest market economies in Europe, with a fragmented system of welfare provision, and many years of military or authoritarian right-wing regimes. In contrast, the five Nordic countries were the richest market economies in Europe, governed mostly by center or center-left coalitions often including the social democratic parties, and having a generous and universal welfare state. In spite of the socioeconomic and political differences, and a large gap between the five Nordic and the three southern nations in levels of health in 1950, population health indicators converged among these eight countries. Mean decadal gains in longevity of Portugal and Spain between 1950 and 2000 were almost three times greater than gains in Denmark, and about twice as great as those in Iceland, Norway and Sweden during the same period. All this raises serious doubts regarding the hypothesis that the political regime, the political party in office, the level of health care spending, and t...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 2, 2014·International Journal of Epidemiology·Javier M RodriguezArline T Geronimus
Jan 23, 2013·Social Science & Medicine·Johan P Mackenbach
Apr 17, 2015·Public Health Nursing·Richard Kimball, Michael Wissner
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Nov 9, 2018·The International Journal of Health Planning and Management·Songul Cinaroglu

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