title: Determinants of efficiency in reducing child mortality in developing countries. The role of inequality and government effectiveness.
abstract: The main aim of this article was to analyze the relationship of income inequality and government effectiveness with differences in efficiency in the use of health inputs to improve the under-five survival rate (U5SR) in developing countries. Robust Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and regression analysis were conducted using data for 47 developing countries for the periods 2000-2004, 2005-2009, and 2010-2012. The estimations show that countries with a more equal income distribution and better government effectiveness (i.e. a more competent bureaucracy and good quality public service delivery) may need fewer health inputs to achieve a specific level of the U5SR than other countries with higher inequality and worse government effectiveness.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Economía Aplicada (Estructura Económica), Universidad de Málaga, Campus El Ejido, 29071, Málaga, Spain. ortega@uma.es.
authors.forename: Bienvenido
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Economía Aplicada (Estructura Económica), Universidad de Málaga, Campus El Ejido, 29071, Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanjuán
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Economía Aplicada (Estructura Económica), Universidad de Málaga, Campus El Ejido, 29071, Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casquero
mesh_terms: D046688:Child Mortality; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003906:Developing Countries; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005260:Female; D006076:Government; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Developing countries; Efficiency; Government effectiveness; Income inequality; Robust Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA); Under-five mortality rate (U5MR)