The Politics of Death

• In Event: The Political Economy of Latin America

Abstract

What explains spatial variation in public health provision in the developing world? The literature on distributive politics has thus far highlighted colonialism as one of the main drivers of divergence in development, but has not yet accounted for variation in life-extending goods--water, sanitation, and hygiene provision--in post-colonial nations. In this article, we argue colonial infrastructure, built mostly for the purposes of military mobilization and resource extraction, may have positive externalities for access to long-term public health provision. The colonial distribution of infrastructure also has long-run effects--spatial inequalities in access to public goods persist in the post-colonial period. Using new data on colonial railroads, we demonstrate a link between economic geography, colonial investments, and spatial variation in access to public health provision in the post-colonial period.

Authors

• Soo Min Oh, Duke University

• Melissa Ziegler Rogers, Claremont Graduate University

• Pablo Beramendi, Duke University