Public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter?
Public finance of health care is known to be one of the central factors for improving population health status. Since healthcare works through public institutions, the effect of public health financing on its outcome relies on the level of governance quality. The current paper examines the impact of...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Southern Public Administration Education Foundation
2017
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/62889/ |
| _version_ | 1848854685379723264 |
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| author | Sirag, Abdalla Mohamed Nor, Norashidah Raja Abdullah, Nik Mustapha Abd Ghani, Judhiana |
| author_facet | Sirag, Abdalla Mohamed Nor, Norashidah Raja Abdullah, Nik Mustapha Abd Ghani, Judhiana |
| author_sort | Sirag, Abdalla |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Public finance of health care is known to be one of the central factors for improving population health status. Since healthcare works through public institutions, the effect of public health financing on its outcome relies on the level of governance quality. The current paper examines the impact of public health financing on a health outcome (infant mortality) taking governance quality into consideration. The study uses panel data analysis for 171 countries categorized into three income levels: low-income, middle-income and high-income countries, for the period 1995–2012. In addition, some techniques that can help to reduce the bias associated with the potential endogeneity problem, such as GMM estimators, are adopted to obtain less biased results. The findings reveal the importance of public health financing in improving the population’s health. In particular, public health financing is negatively associated with the infant mortality rate in all income groups. Moreover, socioeconomic factors, such as income and education, appear to be equally important in reducing the infant mortality rate. Most importantly, the quality of governance was found to be relevant in determining the effect of public health financing on the population’s health. Our study provides partial evidence to show that public finance of healthcare is more efficient in improving the population’s health in countries where governance quality is relatively high compared to countries with low quality of governance. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T11:13:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-62889 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T11:13:48Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Southern Public Administration Education Foundation |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-628892022-11-23T07:15:39Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/62889/ Public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter? Sirag, Abdalla Mohamed Nor, Norashidah Raja Abdullah, Nik Mustapha Abd Ghani, Judhiana Public finance of health care is known to be one of the central factors for improving population health status. Since healthcare works through public institutions, the effect of public health financing on its outcome relies on the level of governance quality. The current paper examines the impact of public health financing on a health outcome (infant mortality) taking governance quality into consideration. The study uses panel data analysis for 171 countries categorized into three income levels: low-income, middle-income and high-income countries, for the period 1995–2012. In addition, some techniques that can help to reduce the bias associated with the potential endogeneity problem, such as GMM estimators, are adopted to obtain less biased results. The findings reveal the importance of public health financing in improving the population’s health. In particular, public health financing is negatively associated with the infant mortality rate in all income groups. Moreover, socioeconomic factors, such as income and education, appear to be equally important in reducing the infant mortality rate. Most importantly, the quality of governance was found to be relevant in determining the effect of public health financing on the population’s health. Our study provides partial evidence to show that public finance of healthcare is more efficient in improving the population’s health in countries where governance quality is relatively high compared to countries with low quality of governance. Southern Public Administration Education Foundation 2017 Article PeerReviewed Sirag, Abdalla and Mohamed Nor, Norashidah and Raja Abdullah, Nik Mustapha and Abd Ghani, Judhiana (2017) Public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter? Public Finance and Management, 17 (4). 341 - 370. ISSN 1523-9721 https://pfm.spaef.org/article/1798/Public-health-financing-and-infant-mortality-does-governance-quality-matter- |
| spellingShingle | Sirag, Abdalla Mohamed Nor, Norashidah Raja Abdullah, Nik Mustapha Abd Ghani, Judhiana Public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter? |
| title | Public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter? |
| title_full | Public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter? |
| title_fullStr | Public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter? |
| title_short | Public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter? |
| title_sort | public health financing and infant mortality: does governance quality matter? |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/62889/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/62889/ |