El Impacto de la Política en la Salud

América Latina: La Acumulación de Capital, la Salud y el Papel de las Instituciones Internacionales. Antonio Ugalde, Núria Homedes / Política Fiscal y Política Sanitaria: Tensiones Evidentes a partir de los Criterios de Reparto de la Masa Coparticipable y los Métodos de Determinación de Transferencia / Nelly Catalina Barbieri / Sobre Progreso Social y Sostenibilidad: ¿Existirá Buenos Aires cuando los Jóvenes de Hoy sean Viejos? José A. Tapia Granados. RESEÑA HISTÓRICA: Un Médico Higienista Buscando Ordenar el Mundo Urbano Argentino de Comienzos del Siglo XX. Diego Armus. CONFERENCIA: Las Ciencias y la Política. Carlos Matus

Politics and health outcomes.

The aim of this study was to examine the complex interactions between political traditions, policies, and public health outcomes, and to find out whether different political traditions have been associated with systematic patterns in population health over time. We analysed a number of political, economic, social, and health variables over a 50-year period, in a set of wealthy countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Our findings support the hypothesis that the political ideologies of governing parties affect some indicators of population health. Our analysis makes an empirical link between politics and policy, by showing that political parties with egalitarian ideologies tend to implement redistributive policies. An important finding of our research is that policies aimed at reducing social inequalities, such as welfare state and labour market policies, do seem to have a salutary effect on the selected health indicators, infant mortality and life expectancy at birth.

[Welfare State policies for equity]. / Políticas de Estado de Bienestar para la equidad.

This article analyzes the evolution of public social expenditure in Spain from 1991 to 2000. It includes the analysis of the total public social expenditure as well as four of its components: sickness/health care, invalidity/old age, survivors, family/children. Expenditure is analyzed as a percentage of the GNP, and expenditure per capita in purchasing power units. This article shows that there has been an increase since 1993 in the deficit of the public expenditure on social protection in Spain representing a divergence from the average expenditure in the UE. The article also analyzes the development of care services (child care and services for dependent elderly), due their impact on gender inequalities.

Políticas de Estado de Bienestar para la equidad / Welfare State policies for equity

Este artículo analiza la evolución del gasto público en protección social en España durante el período 1991-2000 (último año para el que existen datos comparables con la Unión Europea [UE]), tanto globalmente como por algunos de los capítulos que conforman este gasto: sanidad, familia, supervivencia, invalidez y vejez. Se analiza el gasto como porcentaje del PIB y el gasto per cápita en unidades de poder de compra. El artículo documenta la divergencia del gasto en protección social español con el promedio de la UE durante el período 1993-2000, aumentando el déficit del gasto público en protección social de España con la UE. También se analiza el grado de desarrollo de los servicios a las familias (escuelas de infancia y atención a las personas mayores con dependencia), por su gran influencia en las desigualdades de género (AU)

The importance of the political and the social in explaining mortality differentials among the countries of the OECD, 1950-1998.

This article analyzes (within the conceptual frame defined in the previous article) the impact of political variables such as time of government by political parties (social democratic, Christian democratic or conservative, liberal, and ex-dictatorial that have governed the OECD countries during the 1950-1998 period) and their electoral support on (1) redistributional policies in the labor market and in the welfare state; (2) the income inequalities measured by Theil and Gini indexes; and (3) health indicators, such as infant mortality and life expectancy. This analysis is carried out statistically by a bivariate and a multivariate analysis (a pooled cross-sectional study). Both analyses show that political variables play an important role in defining how public and social policies determine the levels of inequalities and affect the level of infant mortality. In general, political parties more committed to redistributional policies, such as social democratic parties, are the most successful in reducing inequalities and improving infant mortality. Less evidence exists, however, on effects on life expectancy. The article also quantifies statistically the relationship between the political and the policy variables and between these variables and the dependent variables--that is, the health indicators.