The African Development Bank and women's health: a cross-national analysis of structural adjustment and maternal mortality.

We conduct a cross-national analysis to test the hypothesis that African Development Bank (AfDB) structural adjustment lending adversely impacts maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa. We analyze data for thirty-five Sub-Saharan African nations with up to four time points (1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005) with generalized least squares random effects regression models and modified two-step Heckman models that correct for potential endogeneity regarding whether or not a Sub-Saharan African nations receives an AfDB structural adjustment loan. We find support for our hypothesis that indicates that Sub-Saharan African nations that receive an AfDB structural adjustment loan tend to have higher levels of maternal mortality than Sub-Saharan African nations that do not receive such a loan. This finding remains stable even when controlling for endogeneity. We conclude by talking about the theoretical and methodological implications along with possible directions for future research.

The African Development Bank, structural adjustment, and child mortality: a cross-national analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa.

We conduct a cross-national analysis to test the hypothesis that African Development Bank (AfDB) structural adjustment adversely impacts child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa. We use generalized least square random effects regression models and two-step Heckman models that correct for selection bias using data on 35 nations with up to four time points (1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005). We find substantial support for our hypothesis, which indicates that Sub-Saharan African nations that receive an AfDB structural adjustment loan tend to have higher levels of child mortality than Sub-Saharan African nations that do not receive such a loan. This finding remains stable even when controlling for selection bias on whether or not a Sub-Saharan African nation receives an AfDB structural adjustment loan. We conclude by discussing the methodological implications of the article, policy suggestions, and possible directions for future research.

Non-governmental organizations, democracy, and HIV prevalence: a cross-national analysis.

Despite the scale, reach, and global impact of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), its study has remained largely at the purview of various micro-level analyses (e.g., Gutmann 2007; Levi and Vitória 2002). However, differences in prevalence rates at the national level suggest that other forces might be at work. Following the work of McIntosh and Thomas (2004), the only cross-national study of HIV/AIDS published to our knowledge, we conduct a cross-national analysis that examines world polity ideas that higher levels of health and women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should be associated with lower levels of HIV prevalence. Initially, we find no support for these hypotheses. However, we respecify our models to test a political opportunity structure hypothesis that democracy enhances the ability of health and women's NGOs to deal with HIV. We test this line of reasoning by including an interaction term between democracy and the health and women's NGO variables. In doing so, we find that health and women's NGOs are associated with lower levels of HIV prevalence in democratic rather than repressive nations.

Dependency, democracy, and infant mortality: a quantitative, cross-national analysis of less developed countries.

This study presents quantitative, sociological models designed to account for cross-national variation in infant mortality rates. We consider variables linked to four different theoretical perspectives: the economic modernization, social modernization, political modernization, and dependency perspectives. The study is based on a panel regression analysis of a sample of 59 developing countries. Our preliminary analysis based on additive models replicates prior studies to the extent that we find that indicators linked to economic and social modernization have beneficial effects on infant mortality. We also find support for hypotheses derived from the dependency perspective suggesting that multinational corporate penetration fosters higher levels of infant mortality. Subsequent analysis incorporating interaction effects suggest that the level of political democracy conditions the effects of dependency relationships based upon exports, investments from multinational corporations, and international lending institutions. Transnational economic linkages associated with exports, multinational corporations, and international lending institutions adversely affect infant mortality more strongly at lower levels of democracy than at higher levels of democracy: intranational, political factors interact with the international, economic forces to affect infant mortality. We conclude with some brief policy recommendations and suggestions for the direction of future research.