Weberian Bureaucracy and Health: Does Bureaucratic State Capacity Improve Wellbeing?

• In Event: 434 - Section on Sociology of Development Paper Session. Neglected Issues in the Sociology of Development

Abstract

Amid the growing consensus that Weberian bureaucracy is beneficial for economic growth, it remains unresolved whether Weberian bureaucracy is beneficial for human development beyond gross domestic product. This paper analyzes whether Weberian bureaucracy is correlated with reductions in child mortality, in order to understand whether bureaucratic capacity is a tool for improving the human condition more broadly. I revisit the pathbreaking work of Evans & Rauch’s (1999) Weberianness Index, proposing a revised Weberian index modified on theoretical and methodological grounds. I analyze both the original and modified Weberianness indices in Evans & Rauch’s original models, finding improved performance for the modified index. I then apply the modified index to the question of child mortality, finding that Weberianness is significantly correlated with lower child mortality, even controlling for previous rates of child mortality and other canonical development controls such as electricity per capita and doctors per patient.

Author

• Erin Metz McDonnell, University of Notre Dame