The Effects of Electoral Systems on Population Health

The purpose of this research is to identify the role of electoral institutions in the process of public goods provision and human development. The status of population health is a suitable indicator, which determines the fairness of resource allocation and the quality of people’s life in particular states. The study conducted applying the regression analysis on the panel data with fixed effects in order to show the impact of electoral institutions on population health. The data consists two divided samples for democracies and autocracies from 1993 to 2014. Infant mortality rate acts as the key dependent variable. The average district magnitude implies as the main indicator of proportionality of electoral systems. The analysis of democracies showed that raising of the average district magnitude leads to lesser mortality rates. It can be inferred that more proportional electoral systems in democracies are better in the matter of health. In turn, the analysis of autocracies indicated that electoral rules do not make any difference for health and serve as tools for incumbents to manipulate political process. It emasculates the significance of these institutions for human development and public good provision. The results of the research open up new areas for study and contribute to an understanding of the role of electoral institutions and parliaments in different regimes. The research paper consists of introduction, two main chapters and conclusion. In the first chapter, the main findings in the field discussed and main theoretical models are considered. The second chapter is the regression analysis, its results and robustness check.