Democracy, Political Freedom and Health Expenditures: Evidence From Eastern Mediterranean Countries Publisher



Kazemi Karyani A¹ ; Homaie Rad E² ; Pourreza A³ ; Shaahmadi F⁴
Source: International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare Published:2015

Abstract

Purpose – Health can be influenced by many factors. One of the factors is the political context of the country and democracy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of freedom in press and polity index in overall, public, private and out of pocket health expenditures. Design/methodology/approach – A long-term panel data approach has been used to examine the relationship between democracy and health expenditures. The authors inserted polity and freedom into press indexes in the health expenditure model. Findings – Increase in freedom of the press and democracy will increase the overall, public and private health expenditures while they decrease out of pocket health expenditures. Originality/value – Polity and freedom index has a significant impact on all the health expenditure models. © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.