Party Politics, Governors, and Healthcare Expenditures

Abstract

This study examines the impact of gubernatorial partisanship on the growth of healthcare expenditures (HCE) for a panel dataset of 50 U.S. states over the 1991–2009 period. Using the parametric regression discontinuity design, I find no partisan effect on the growth of state's per capita real total personal HCE. However, an analysis of the growth rates of the components of HCE suggests that there is a causal effect of party affiliation on the “prescription drugs” component. These findings are robust to the inclusion of additional covariates in the parametric approach as well to the use of the non‐parametric regression discontinuity approach. The results further suggest that the impact of gubernatorial partisanship does not depend on the length of the governor's term in office.

What drives public health care expenditure growth? Evidence from Swiss cantons, 1970–2012

“…The empirical analysis, however, suggests that both factors do not contribute to explaining the dynamics of phce and do not alter the main results. While the result for the partisan ideology is in line with the findings of Potrafke (2010) and Joshi (2015), it stands in contrast to the studies by Potrafke (2010) and Herwartz and Theilen (2014) with regard to the effect that electoral motives in election years have on public health care expenditure. This might be due to the fact that Switzerland features consensus governments.…”

“…While these contributions mainly focus on supply and demand-side explanations, we provide a rich empirical analysis that integrates considerations from political economy and major health 8 For the U.S. states, Joshi (2015) finds no partisan effect on health care expenditure. However, an investigation of the components of health care expenditure suggests a causal effect of party affiliation on expenditures for prescription drugs.…”

Party Affiliation and Public Spending: Evidence From U.S. Governors

“…He finds a slightly higher minimum wage, lower post‐tax inequality, and unemployment rate under Democratic governors. Joshi (), using an RDD, finds no impact of gubernatorial partisanship on health expenditures during the 1991–2009 period. Fredriksson, Wang, and Warren (), using an RDD, investigate the effect of gubernatorial party affiliation on tax policies from 1970 to 2007; they find that the impact is dependent on whether the governor is a lame duck or eligible for re‐election.…”

“…He finds a slightly higher minimum wage, lower post-tax inequality, and unemployment rate under Democratic governors. Joshi (2015), using an RDD, 1. Lame duck governors are those who are in their last term and are facing binding term limits.…”

The urban–rural gap in healthcare infrastructure: does government ideology matter?

“…Therefore, the effects of government ideology on healthcare policies are a priori unclear. The empirical evidence as to whether government ideology predicts public health expenditure is mixed (Béland & Oloomi, 2017;Brändle & Colombier, 2016;Castro & Martins, 2018;Herwartz & Theilen, 2014;Jensen, 2011;Joshi, 2015;Kousser, 2002;Potrafke, 2010Potrafke, , 2012Wiese, 2014). Almost all previous studies use health expenditure as the dependent variable.…”